Gold in graphene: in-plane adsorption and diffusion

Malola, S.; Häkkinen, H.; Koskinen, P.

Gold in graphene: in-plane adsorption and diffusion

Authors

Malola, S.

Häkkinen, H.

Koskinen, P.

Description

We study the bonding and diffusion of Au in graphene vacancies using density-functional theory. Energetics show that Au adsorbs preferably to double vacancies, steadily in-plane with graphene. All diffusion barriers for the complex of Au in double vacancy are above 4 eV, whereas the barriers for larger vacancies are below 2 eV. Our results support the main results of a recent experiment [Gan et al., Small 4, 587 (2008)], but suggest that the observed diffusion mechanism is not thermally activated, but radiation-enhanced.
3 pages, 3 figures