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Science 30 January 2009:
Vol. 323. no. 5914, pp. 610 - 613
DOI: 10.1126/science.1167130
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Reports

Control of Graphene's Properties by Reversible Hydrogenation: Evidence for Graphane

D. C. Elias,1* R. R. Nair,1* T. M. G. Mohiuddin,1 S. V. Morozov,2 P. Blake,3 M. P. Halsall,1 A. C. Ferrari,4 D. W. Boukhvalov,5 M. I. Katsnelson,5 A. K. Geim,1,3 K. S. Novoselov1{dagger}

Although graphite is known as one of the most chemically inert materials, we have found that graphene, a single atomic plane of graphite, can react with atomic hydrogen, which transforms this highly conductive zero-overlap semimetal into an insulator. Transmission electron microscopy reveals that the obtained graphene derivative (graphane) is crystalline and retains the hexagonal lattice, but its period becomes markedly shorter than that of graphene. The reaction with hydrogen is reversible, so that the original metallic state, the lattice spacing, and even the quantum Hall effect can be restored by annealing. Our work illustrates the concept of graphene as a robust atomic-scale scaffold on the basis of which new two-dimensional crystals with designed electronic and other properties can be created by attaching other atoms and molecules.

1 School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK.
2 Institute for Microelectronics Technology, 142432 Chernogolovka, Russia.
3 Manchester Centre for Mesoscience and Nanotechnology, University of Manchester, M13 9PL, Manchester, UK.
4 Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, 9 JJ Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 OFA, UK.
5 Institute for Molecules and Materials, Radboud University Nijmegen, 6525 ED Nijmegen, Netherlands.

* These authors contributed equally to this work.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Kostya{at}manchester.ac.uk

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Graphene: Status and Prospects.
A. K. Geim (2009)
Science 324, 1530-1534
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