Selective electrochemical functionalization of the graphene edge† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c8sc04083d

• Published in: Chemical science (Cambridge) Vol. 10; no. 3; pp. 936 - 942
• Main Authors: Yadav, Anur, Iost, Rodrigo M., Neubert, Tilmann J., Baylan, Sema, Schmid, Thomas, Balasubramanian, Kannan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Society of Chemistry 05.11.2018
• Subjects: Chemistry
• ISSN: 2041-6520; 2041-6539
• DOI: 10.1039/c8sc04083d

We report the direct exclusive modification of the edge of a single graphene monolayer with nanoparticles or organic functionalities under ambient conditions. We present a versatile and simple method using electrochemistry for the exclusive functionalization of the edge of a graphene monolayer with metal nanoparticles or polymeric amino groups. The attachment of metal nanoparticles allows us to exploit surface-enhanced Raman scattering to characterize the chemistry of both the pristine and the functionalized graphene edge. For the pristine patterned graphene edge, we observe the typical edge-related modes, while for the functionalized graphene edge we identify the chemical structure of the functional layer by vibrational fingerprinting. The ability to obtain single selectively functionalized graphene edges routinely on an insulating substrate opens an avenue for exploring the effect of edge chemistry on graphene properties systematically.