Atomic control over 2D materials via ion beam manipulation (ATOMION)

2018–2022

The focus of this project is to use an old method from the modern semiconductor industry—ion irradiation—to adjust the atomic structure of new materials in a controlled manner. We will specifically focus on two-dimensional materials, which have gained a large amount of interest due to their unique properties over the last decade. In Nature, such materials form stacked crystals, similar to sheets of paper in a paper stack, from which individual layers can be extracted. An example of such a material is graphite, which consists of layers of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern. A single sheet of graphite, the one-atom-thick crystal of carbon atoms, is called graphene, and although it is far from being the only one, it is the best known two-dimensional material to date. With careful control over irradiation parameters, it is possible to selectively modify even atomically thin materials, for example by changing some of the carbon atoms in graphene with other elements. Due to different mass, number of electrons and different electrostatic potential, these foreign atoms will affect many material properties. Success in this project will provide us with a new method for tailoring novel materials so that they will fulfill the demands of specific applications in various fields.

Funder: Austrian Science Fund

Project identifier: P31605-N36

Principal investigator: J. Kotakoski

Project publications

2025

Joudi, W., Ghaderzadeh, S., Trentino, A., Mizohata, K., Mustonen, K., Besley, E., Kotakoski, J., & Åhlgren, E. H. (2025). Two-Dimensional One-Atom-Thick Gold Grown on Defect-Engineered Graphene. ACS Nano, 19(24), 22032–22043. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c01538

2024

Trentino, A., Zagler, G., Längle, M., Madsen, J., Susi, T., Mangler, C., Åhlgren, E. H., Mustonen, K., & Kotakoski, J. (2024). Single atoms and metal nanoclusters anchored to graphene vacancies. Micron, 184, Article 103667. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.micron.2024.103667

Längle, M., Mizohata, K., Mangler, C., Trentino, A., Mustonen, K., Åhlgren, E. H., & Kotakoski, J. (2024). Two-dimensional few-atom noble gas clusters in a graphene sandwich. Nature Materials, 23(6), 762–767. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2306.15436, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01780-1

Adžić, N., Jochum, C., Likos, C. N., & Stiakakis, E. (2024). Engineering Ultrasoft Interactions in Stiff All-DNA Dendrimers by Site-Specific Control of Scaffold Flexibility. Small, 20(21), Article 2308763. https://doi.org/10.1002/smll.202308763

2022

Niggas, A., Schwestka, J., Balzer, K., Weichselbaum, D., Schlünzen, N., Heller, R., Creutzburg, S., Inani, H., Tripathi, M., Speckmann, C., McEvoy, N., Susi, T., Kotakoski, J., Gan, Z., George, A., Turchanin, A., Bonitz, M., Aumayr, F., & Wilhelm, R. A. (2022). Ion-Induced Surface Charge Dynamics in Freestanding Monolayers of Graphene and MoS₂ Probed by the Emission of Electrons. Physical Review Letters, 129(8), Article 086802. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.086802

Zagler, G., Stecher, M., Trentino, A., Kraft, F., Su, C., Postl, A., Längle, M., Pesenhofer, C., Mangler, C., Ahlgren, E. H., Markevich, A., Zettl, A., Kotakoski, J., Susi, T., & Mustonen, K. (2022). Beam-driven dynamics of aluminium dopants in graphene. 2D Materials, 9(3), Article 035009. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac6c30

Trentino, A., Mizohata, K., Zagler, G., Längle, M., Mustonen, K., Susi, T., Kotakoski, J., & Åhlgren, E. H. (2022). Two-step implantation of gold into graphene. 2D Materials, 9(2), Article 025011. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ac4e9c

Mustonen, K., Hofer, C., Kotrusz, P., Markevich, A., Hulman, M., Mangler, C., Susi, T., Pennycook, T. J., Hricovini, K., Richter, C., Meyer, J. C., Kotakoski, J., & Skakalova, V. (2022). Toward Exotic Layered Materials: 2D Cuprous Iodide. Advanced Materials, 34(9), Article 2106922. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202106922

2021

Trentino, A., Madsen, J., Mittelberger, A., Mangler, C., Susi, T., Mustonen, K., & Kotakoski, J. (2021). Atomic-Level Structural Engineering of Graphene on a Mesoscopic Scale. Nano Letters, 21(12), 5179-5185. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c01214

Brand, C., Monazam, M. R. A., Mangler, C., Lilach, Y., Cheshnovsky, O., Arndt, M., & Kotakoski, J. (2021). The morphology of doubly-clamped graphene nanoribbons. 2D Materials, 8(2), Article 025035. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/abe952

2020

Schwestka, J., Inani, H., Tripathi, M., Niggas, A., McEvoy, N., Libisch, F., Aumayr, F., Kotakoski, J., & Wilhelm, R. A. (2020). Atomic-Scale Carving of Nanopores into a van der Waals Heterostructure with Slow Highly Charged Ions. ACS Nano, 14(8), 10536-10543. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.0c04476

Creutzburg, S., Schwestka, J., Niggas, A., Inani, H., Tripathi, M., George, A., Heller, R., Kozubek, R., Madauss, L., McEvoy, N., Facsko, S., Kotakoski, J., Schleberger, M., Turchanin, A., Grande, P. L., Aumayr, F., & Wilhelm, R. A. (2020). Vanishing influence of the band gap on the charge exchange of slow highly charged ions in freestanding single-layer MoS₂. Physical Review B, 102(4), Article 045408. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.045408

2019

Mustonen, K., Markevich, A., Tripathi, M., Inani, H., Ding, E. X., Hussain, A., Mangler, C., Kauppinen, E. I., Kotakoski, J., & Susi, T. (2019). Electron-Beam Manipulation of Silicon Impurities in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes. Advanced Functional Materials, 29(52), Article 1901327. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201901327

Hofer, C., Skákalová, V., Görlich, T., Tripathi, M., Mittelberger, A., Mangler, C., Monazam, M. R. A., Susi, T., Kotakoski, J., & Meyer, J. C. (2019). Direct imaging of light-element impurities in graphene reveals triple-coordinated oxygen. Nature Communications, 10(1), Article 4570. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-12537-3

Chirita Mihaila, A. I., Susi, T., & Kotakoski, J. (2019). Influence of temperature on the displacement threshold energy in graphene. Scientific Reports, 9(1), Article 12981. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-49565-4

Monazam, M. R. A., Ludacka, U., Komsa, H.-P., & Kotakoski, J. (2019). Substitutional Si impurities in monolayer hexagonal boron nitride. Applied Physics Letters, 115(7), Article 071604. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5112375

Ahmadpour Monazam, M. R., Ludacka, U., Komsa, H.-P., & Kotakoski, J. (2019). Silicon Substitution in Monolayer Hexagonal Boron Nitride. Microscopy and Microanalysis, 25(S2), 2082–2083. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927619011140

Susi, T., Meyer, J. C., & Kotakoski, J. (2019). Quantifying transmission electron microscopy irradiation effects using two-dimensional materials. Nature Reviews Physics, 1(6), 397-405. https://doi.org/10.1038/s42254-019-0058-y

Inani, H., Mustonen, K., Markevich, A., Ding, E.-X., Tripathi, M., Hussain, A., Mangler, C., Kauppinen, E. I., Susi, T., & Kotakoski, J. (2019). Silicon Substitution in Nanotubes and Graphene via Intermittent Vacancies. Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 123(20), 13136-13140. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b01894

Brand, C., Debiossac, M., Susi, T., Aguillon, F., Kotakoski, J., Roncin, P., & Arndt, M. (2019). Coherent diffraction of hydrogen through the 246 pm lattice of graphene. New Journal of Physics, 21(3), Article 033004. https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ab05ed