Adsorbate-limited conductivity of graphene

TL;DR

This paper develops a theory for how randomly placed adsorbates affect graphene's electronic transport, predicting asymmetrical conductivity, negative magnetoresistivity, and insulating tendencies at strong scattering, aligning with experimental observations.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive theoretical model for adsorbate effects on graphene's conductivity, including renormalization group analysis and numerical validation.

Findings

Predicts asymmetry of conductivity around the Dirac point

Identifies negative weak-localization magnetoresistivity

Shows strong scattering leads to insulating behavior

Abstract

We present a theory of electronic transport in graphene in the presence of randomly placed adsorbates. Our analysis predicts a marked asymmetry of the conductivity about the Dirac point, as well as a negative weak-localization magnetoresistivity. In the region of strong scattering, renormalization group corrections drive the system further towards insulating behavior. These results explain key features of recent experiments, and are validated by numerical transport computations.