Volume 9, Issue 4 2401168
Research Article

Precursor-Driven Confined Synthesis of Highly Pure 5-Armchair Graphene Nanoribbons

Weili Cui

Weili Cui

State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Functional Molecular Engineering, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 P. R. China

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Wendi Zhang

Wendi Zhang

School of Physical Science and Technology & Shanghai Key Laboratory of High-resolution Electron Microscopy, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210 P. R. China

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Kunpeng Tang

Kunpeng Tang

State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Functional Molecular Engineering, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 P. R. China

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Yingzhi Chen

Yingzhi Chen

State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Functional Molecular Engineering, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 P. R. China

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Kecheng Cao

Corresponding Author

Kecheng Cao

School of Physical Science and Technology & Shanghai Key Laboratory of High-resolution Electron Microscopy, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210 P. R. China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Lei Shi

Corresponding Author

Lei Shi

State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Functional Molecular Engineering, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 P. R. China

E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]

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Guowei Yang

Guowei Yang

State Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Materials and Technologies, Guangdong Basic Research Center of Excellence for Functional Molecular Engineering, Nanotechnology Research Center, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275 P. R. China

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First published: 02 November 2024

Abstract

Armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) known as semiconductors are holding promise for nanoelectronics applications and sparking increased research interest. Currently, synthesis of 5-AGNRs with a quasi-metallic gap has been achieved using perylene and its halogen-containing derivatives as precursors via on-surface synthesis on a metal substrate. However, challenges in controlling the polymerization and orientation between precursor molecules have led to side reactions and the formation of by-products, posing a significant issue in purity. Here a precision synthesis of confined 5-AGNRs using molecular-designed precursors without halogens is proposed to address these challenges. Perylene and its dimer quaterrylene are utilized for filling into single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs), following a precursor-driven transition into 5-AGNRs by heat-induced polymerization and cyclodehydrogenation. SWCNTs restrict the alignment of confined quaterrylene enabling their polymerization with a head-to-tail arrangement, which results in the formation of pure 5-AGNRs with three times higher yield than that of perylene, as the free rotation capability of perylene molecules inside SWCNTs lead to the formation of 5-AGNRs concomitant with by-products. This work provides a templated route for synthesizing desired GNRs based on molecular-designed precursors and confined polymerization, bringing advantages for their applications in electronics and optoelectronics.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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