Increasing the active surface of titanium islands on graphene by nitrogen sputtering

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that introducing defects in graphene via nitrogen sputtering reduces titanium island size and increases surface area, enhancing hydrogen storage potential.

Contribution

It reveals how defect engineering on graphene influences titanium island formation, optimizing surface area for hydrogen storage.

Findings

Titanium islands are smaller on defected graphene.

Defect introduction reduces titanium atom mobility.

Enhanced surface area improves hydrogen storage capacity.

Abstract

Titanium-island formation on graphene as a function of defect density is investigated. When depositing titanium on pristine graphene, titanium atoms cluster and form islands with an average diameter of about 10nm and an average height of a few atomic layers. We show that if defects are introduced in the graphene by ion bombardment, the mobility of the deposited titanium atoms is reduced and the average diameter of the islands decreases to 5nm with monoatomic height. This results in an optimized coverage for hydrogen storage applications since the actual titanium surface available per unit graphene area is significantly increased.