Abstract
During the last decade, on-surface fabricated graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) have gathered enormous attention due to their semiconducting π-conjugated nature and atomically precise structure. A significant breakthrough is the recent fabrication of nanoporous graphene (NPG) as a 2D array of laterally bonded GNRs. This covalent integration of GNRs could enable complex electronic functionality at the nanoscale; however, for that, it is crucial to externally control the electronic coupling between GNRs within NPGs, which, to date, has not been possible. Using quantum chemical calculations and large-scale transport simulations, this study demonstrates that such control is enabled in a newly designed quinone-NPG (q-NPG) thanks to its GNRs inter-connections based on electroactive para-benzoquinone units. As a result, the spatial distribution of injected currents in q-NPG may be tuned, with sub-nanometer precision, via the application of external electrostatic gates and electrochemical means. These results thus provide a fundamental strategy to design organic nanodevices with built-in externally tunable electronics and spintronics, which is key for future applications such as bio-chemical nanosensing and carbon nanoelectronics.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2104031 |
| Journal | Advanced Functional Materials |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 40 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| ISSN | 1616-301X |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors acknowledge useful conversations with Dr Aran Garcia‐Lekue. Financial support by the Danmarks Frie Forskningsfond (4184‐00030) and Villum Fonden (00013340) is gratefully acknowledged. The Center for Nanostructured Graphene (CNG) is sponsored by the Danish National Research Foundation (DNRF103). I.A. is grateful for support from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. Computer facilities of the Freie Universität Berlin (ZEDAT) are acknowledged for computer time.