Bottom-up synthesis of multifunctional nanoporous graphene

Abstract

Synthesizing graphene nanopores Nanosize pores in graphene can make its electronic properties more favorable for transistor applications and may also be useful for molecular separations. Moreno et al . used Ullmann coupling to polymerize a dibromo-substituted diphenylbianthracene on a gold surface (see the Perspective by Sinitskii). Cyclodehydrogenation of the resulting polymer produced graphene nanoribbons, and cross-coupling of these structures created a nanoporous graphene sheet with pore sizes of about 1 nanometer. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy revealed an electronic structure in which semiconductor bands with an energy gap of 1 electron volt coexist with localized states created by the pores. Science , this issue p. 199 ; see also p. 154