Nanoengineering Carbon Allotropes from Graphene

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel nanoengineering approach to create new carbon allotropes by precisely manipulating defects in graphene, leading to the design of haeckelite and a new class called dimerite.

Contribution

It presents a new defect-based method for constructing carbon allotropes, including the first demonstration of creating haeckelite and dimerite structures from graphene.

Findings

Successfully constructed haeckelite from graphene defects

Proposed and conceptualized dimerite, a new membranic carbon allotrope

Demonstrated defect patterning as a viable nanoengineering technique

Abstract

Monolithic structures can be built into graphene by the addition and subsequent re-arrangement of carbon atoms. To this end, ad-dimers of carbon are a particularly attractive building block because a number of emerging technologies offer the promise of precisely placing them on carbon surfaces. In concert with the more common Stone-Wales defect, repeating patterns can be introduced to create as yet unrealized materials. The idea of building such allotropes out of defects is new, and we demonstrate the technique by constructing two-dimensional carbon allotropes known as haeckelite. We then extend the idea to create a new class of membranic carbon allotropes that we call \emph{dimerite}, composed exclusively of ad-dimer defects.