Electronic and Structural Disorder of the Epitaxial LaSrMnO Surface.

Understanding and tuning epitaxial complex oxide films are crucial in controlling the behavior of devices and catalytic processes. Substrate-induced strain, doping, and layer growth are known to influence the electronic and magnetic properties of the bulk of the film. In this study, we demonstrate a clear distinction between the bulk and surface of thin films of LaSrMnO in terms of chemical composition, electronic disorder, and surface morphology.

Topological Surface State in Epitaxial Zigzag Graphene Nanoribbons.

Protected and spin-polarized transport channels are the hallmark of topological insulators, coming along with an intrinsic strong spin-orbit coupling. Here we identified such corresponding chiral states in epitaxially grown zigzag graphene nanoribbons (zz-GNRs), albeit with an extremely weak spin-orbit interaction. While the bulk of the monolayer zz-GNR is fully suspended across a SiC facet, the lower edge merges into the SiC(0001) substrate and reveals a surface state at the Fermi energy, which is extended along the edge and splits in energy toward the bulk.

Porphyrin molecules boost the sensitivity of epitaxial graphene for NH detection.

The sensitivity of quasi-free standing epitaxial graphene for NH detection is strongly enhanced by chemical functionalization with cobalt porphyrins resulting in a detection limit well below 100 ppb. Hybridization between NH and cobalt porphyrins induces a charge transfer to graphene and results in a shift of the graphene Fermi-level as detected by Hall measurements and theoretically explained by electronic structure calculations.

Role of silicon dangling bonds in the electronic properties of epitaxial graphene on silicon carbide.

In this paper, we study the electronic properties of epitaxial graphene (EG) on silicon carbide by means of ab initio calculations based on the local spin density approximation + U method taking into account the Coulomb interaction between Si localized electrons. We show that this interaction is not completely suppressed but is screened by carbon layers grown on-top of silicon carbide. This finding leads to a good qualitative understanding of the experimental results reported on EG on silicon carbide.

Vacancy formation on C60/Pt (111): unraveling the complex atomistic mechanism.

The interaction of fullerenes with transition metal surfaces leads to the development of an atomic network of ordered vacancies on the metal. However, the structure and formation mechanism of this intricate surface reconstruction is not yet understood at an atomic level. We combine scanning tunneling microscopy, high resolution and temperature programmed-x-ray photoelectrons spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations to show that the vacancy formation in C60/Pt(111) is a complex process in which fullerenes undergo two significant structural rearrangements upon thermal annealing.

Interface-induced room-temperature ferromagnetism in hydrogenated epitaxial graphene.

We show ferromagnetic properties of hydrogen-functionalized epitaxial graphene on SiC. Ferromagnetism in such a material is not directly evident as it is inherently composed of only nonmagnetic constituents. Our results nevertheless show strong ferromagnetism with a saturation of 0.

Ordered vacancy network induced by the growth of epitaxial graphene on Pt(111).

We have studied large areas of (√3×√3)R30° graphene commensurate with a Pt(111) substrate. A combination of experimental techniques with ab initio density functional theory indicates that this structure is related to a reconstruction at the Pt surface, consisting of an ordered vacancy network formed in the outermost Pt layer and a graphene layer covalently bound to the Pt substrate. The formation of this reconstruction is enhanced if low temperatures and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are used as molecular precursors for epitaxial growth of the graphene layers.

Fullerene monolayer formation by spray coating.

Many large molecular complexes are limited in thin film applications by their insufficient thermal stability, which excludes deposition via commonly used vapour phase deposition methods. Here we demonstrate an alternative way of monolayer formation of large molecules by a simple spray coating method under ambient conditions. This technique has been successfully applied on C(60) dissolved in toluene and carbon disulfide.

On the mechanism of charge transport in pentacene.

Terahertz transient conductivity measurements are performed on pentacene single crystals, which directly demonstrate a strong coupling of charge carriers to low frequency molecular motions with energies centered around 1.1 THz. We present evidence that the strong coupling to low frequency motions is the factor limiting the conductivity in these organic semiconductors.