Electric field effect on the vibration of single CO molecules in a scanning tunneling microscope junction

Effects of double-atom vacancies on the electronic properties of graphyne: a DFT investigation

Vacancy defects are one of the key impurities that strongly affect the properties of materials. In the present study, some different double-atom vacancies were introduced into α-graphyne (Gy), βGy, and γGy, depending on their own structural characteristics. Subsequently, density functional theory (DFT) calculations were carried out to evaluate the changes in the structural and electronic properties induced by the double-atom vacancies. The results indicated that the double-atom vacancies only lead to an in-plane structural rearrangement of all three of the Gy systems. It was further revealed that the position of the double-atom vacancies is a crucial factor in the manipulation of the electronic properties of αGy and βGy as compared with γGy. Our work is expected to yield new Gy materials with the desired properties obtained by altering the position of induced double-atom vacancies.

Hot carrier-selective chemical reactions on Ag(110)

Here, we show that the pathways, products, and efficiencies of reactions occurring on a metal surface can be spatially modulated by varying the type and energy of hot carriers produced by injecting tunneling electrons or holes from a scanning tunneling microscope tip into the metal surface. Control over the metal surface reactions was demonstrated for the large-scale dissociation reaction of O2 molecules on a Ag(110) surface. Hot electrons (or holes) transported through the metal surface to chemisorbed O2 selectively dissociated the molecule into two oxygen atoms separated along the [110] (or [001]) lattice direction. The reaction selectivity was enhanced compared to the selectivity of a direct reaction involving tunneling carriers.

Electric field assisted oxygen removal from the basal plane of the graphitic material

We provide a novel strategy to eliminate the epoxy group from the basal plane of graphene platelets. Given that the current reduction methods are unsatisfactory to clean the epoxides or sometimes cause undesirable structure deformations, the proposed strategy restores the original hexagonal carbon network without creating other new defects. To the best of our knowledge, the electric field mediated graphene oxide (GO) reduction has not yet been systematically investigated. The capability would permit the improvement of existing GO reduction methods and assist in the fabrication of high-quality graphitic materials.