Abstract
The boundaries between domains in single-layer graphene1,2,3,4 strongly influence its electronic properties5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12. However, existing approaches for domain visualization, which are based on microscopy and spectroscopy2,12,13,14,15,16, are only effective for domains that are less than a few micrometres in size. Here, we report a simple method for the visualization of arbitrarily large graphene domains by imaging the birefringence of a graphene surface covered with nematic liquid crystals. The method relies on a correspondence between the orientation of the liquid crystals and that of the underlying graphene, which we use to determine the boundaries of macroscopic domains.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Research Laboratory Program (R0A-2007-000-20037-0, NRF), World Class University Program (R32-2008-000-10142-0, NRF), and the Global Frontier Research Center for Advanced Soft Electronics. The authors especially appreciate helpful discussions with Prof. Mohan Srinivasarao.
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D.W.K., Y.H.K., H.S.J. and H-T.J. wrote the paper. D.W.K., Y.H.K. and H-T.J. conceived and directed the research. D.W.K. prepared graphene and carried out characterization using electron microscopy. D.W.K., Y.H.K. and H.S.J. carried out liquid-crystal cell experiments and interpreted liquid-crystal alignment on the graphene.
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Kim, D., Kim, Y., Jeong, H. et al. Direct visualization of large-area graphene domains and boundaries by optical birefringency. Nature Nanotech 7, 29–34 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.198
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.198
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