Microwave heating as a universal method to transform confined molecules into armchair graphene nanoribbons

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that microwave heating is a rapid and universal method for transforming precursor molecules into less twisted armchair graphene nanoribbons, enabling large-scale production for advanced nanodevices.

Contribution

The study introduces microwave heating as a fast, universal technique for synthesizing less twisted AGNRs from various molecules, improving scalability over traditional methods.

Findings

Microwave heating synthesizes AGNRs in seconds.

Multiple molecules successfully transformed into AGNRs.

Less twisted AGNRs produced compared to furnace annealing.

Abstract

Armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) with sub-nanometer width are potential materials for fabrication of novel nanodevices thanks to their moderate direct band gaps. AGNRs are usually synthesized by polymerizing precursor molecules on substrate surface. However, it is time-consuming and not suitable for large-scale production. AGNRs can also be grown by transforming precursor molecules inside single-walled carbon nanotubes via furnace annealing, but the obtained AGNRs are normally twisted. In this work, microwave heating is applied for transforming precursor molecules into AGNRs. The fast heating process allows synthesizing the AGNRs in seconds. Several different molecules were successfully transformed into AGNRs, suggesting that it is a universal method. More importantly, as demonstrated by Raman spectroscopy, aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy and theoretical calculations, less twisted AGNRs are synthesized by the microwave heating than the furnace annealing. Our results reveal a route for rapid production of AGNRs in large scale, which would benefit future applications in novel AGNRs-based semiconductor devices.