Revolution of graphite-intercalation-compound (GIC) research by highly controlled bilayer graphene

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K18878
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 28:Nano/micro science and related fields
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Ago Hiroki 九州大学, グローバルイノベーションセンター, 教授 (10356355)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-07-09 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 二層グラフェン / インターカレーション / 二次元ナノ空間 / 黒鉛層間化合物 / CVD

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Graphite intercalation compounds (GICs) have been studied for long time, because they show many intriguing properties, strongly depending on intercalants. In this research project, we studied the intercalation of metal chlorides in CVD-grown, large-area bilayer graphene with an aid of a high-performance electron microscope. We found that metal chlorides exhibit various unique sub-stable structures in the 2D nanospace which is sandwiched by two graphene layers. We also found that the intercalation strongly depends on the twist angle of bilayer graphene. These findings provide new insight on the GIC research, allowing to apply energy devices, such as Li and Na ion batteries.

Free Research Field

ナノテクノロジー

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

黒鉛層間化合物（GIC）は多くの興味深い物性を示すことから、長い間、研究が行われてきたが、X線構造回折などでマクロな測定結果に基づいて議論がなされてきた。本研究では二層グラフェンという最新のナノ材料と最先端電子顕微鏡を用いて、ミクロな構造や詳しい機構を明らかにすることができた。本成果は、グラフェンなどの層状物質の二次元空間を舞台にした科学という新たなコンセプトを与えるものであるとともに、リチウムイオン電池やナトリウムイオン電池など今後のエネルギー応用において重要な設計指針をもたらすものである。