Building nanogapped graphene electrode arrays by electroburningElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Device fabrication, electrical measurement, numerical simulation and I-V curves of the electroburning process. See DOI: 10.1039/c7ra13106b

• Main Authors: Gu, Chunhui, Su, Dingkai, Jia, Chuancheng, Ren, Shizhao, Guo, Xuefeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Published: 12.02.2018
• ISSN: 2046-2069
• DOI: 10.1039/c7ra13106b

Carbon nanoelectrodes with nanogap are reliable platforms for achieving ultra-small electronic devices. One of the main challenges in fabricating nanogapped carbon electrodes is precise control of the gap size. Herein, we put forward an electroburning approach for controllable fabrication of graphene nanoelectrodes from preprocessed nanoconstriction arrays. The electroburning behavior was investigated in detail, which revealed a dependence on the size of nanoconstriction units. The electroburnt nanoscale electrodes showed the capacity to build molecular devices. The methodology and mechanism presented in this study provide significant guidance for the fabrication of proper graphene and other carbon nanoelectrodes. An approach for the efficient fabrication of graphene nanoelectrodes through the combination of dash-line lithography and electroburning is demonstrated in detail.