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Narrow graphene nanoribbons from carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are materials with properties distinct from those of other carbon allotropes1,2,3,4,5. The all-semiconducting nature of sub-10-nm GNRs could bypass the problem of the extreme chirality dependence of the metal or semiconductor nature of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) in future electronics1,2. Currently, making GNRs using lithographic3,4,6, chemical7,8,9 or sonochemical1 methods is challenging. It is difficult to obtain GNRs with smooth edges and controllable widths at high yields. Here we show an approach to making GNRs by unzipping multiwalled carbon nanotubes by plasma etching of nanotubes partly embedded in a polymer film. The GNRs have smooth edges and a narrow width distribution (10–20 nm). Raman spectroscopy and electrical transport measurements reveal the high quality of the GNRs. Unzipping CNTs with well-defined structures in an array will allow the production of GNRs with controlled widths, edge structures, placement and alignment in a scalable fashion for device integration.

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Figure 1: Making GNRs from CNTs.
Figure 2: Images of GNRs converted from MWCNTs.
Figure 3: Raman imaging and spectra of GNRs.
Figure 4: Room-temperature electrical properties of GNR devices.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Microelectronics Advanced Research Corporation - Materials, Structures, and Devices Center, Intel and the US Office of Naval Research.

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Correspondence to Hongjie Dai.

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This file contains Supplementary Methods, Supplementary Figures S1-S10 with Legends, Supplementary Table S1, Supplementary Data and Supplementary References (PDF 442 kb)

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Jiao, L., Zhang, L., Wang, X. et al. Narrow graphene nanoribbons from carbon nanotubes. Nature 458, 877–880 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07919

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