We demonstrate how self-assembled monolayers of aromatic molecules on copper substrates can be converted into high-quality single-layer graphene using low-energy electron irradiation and subsequent annealing. We characterize this two-dimensional solid state transformation on the atomic scale and study the physical and chemical properties of the formed graphene sheets by complementary microscopic and spectroscopic techniques and by electrical transport measurements. As substrates we successfully use Cu(111) single crystals and the technologically relevant polycrystalline copper foils.
@article{arxiv.1406.1962,
title = {Functional single-layer graphene sheets from aromatic monolayers},
author = {Dan G. Matei and Nils-Eike Weber and Simon Kurasch and Stefan Wundrack and Miroslaw Woszczyna and Miriam Grothe and Thomas Weimann and Franz Ahlers and Rainer Stosch and Ute Kaiser and Andrey Turchanin},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1406.1962},
year = {2014}
}