A team of researchers from the University of Basel, the National Institute for Material Science in Tsukuba in Japan, Kanazawa University, Kwansei Gakuin University in Japan and Aalto University in Finland has succeeded in using atomic force microscopy to obtain images of individual impurity atoms in graphene ribbons. Thanks to the forces measured in the graphene's two-dimensional carbon lattice, they were able to identify boron and nitrogen for the first time.

Using the atomic force microscope's carbon monoxide functionalized tip (red/silver), the forces between the tip and the various atoms in the graphene ribbon can be measured

The team replaced particular carbon atoms in the hexagonal lattice with boron and nitrogen atoms using surface chemistry, by placing suitable organic precursor compounds on a gold surface. Under heat exposure up to 400°C, tiny graphene ribbons formed on the gold surface from the precursors, including impurity atoms at specific sites.

The researchers examined these graphene ribbons using atomic force microscopy (AFM). They used a carbon monoxide functionalized tip and measured the tiny forces that act between the tip and the individual atoms.

This method allows even the smallest differences in forces to be detected. By looking at the different forces, the researchers were able to map and identify the different atoms. "The forces measured for nitrogen atoms are greater than for a carbon atom," explains Dr. Shigeki Kawai, lead author of the study. "We measured the smallest forces for the boron atoms." The different forces can be explained by the different proportion of repulsive forces, which is due to the different atomic radii.

Computer simulations confirmed the readings, proving that AFM technology is well-suited to conducting chemical analyses of impurity atoms in the promising two-dimensional carbon compounds.