A systematic molecular-dynamics study was made of the vacancy-induced amorphization of single-layer graphene. An inserted vacancy concentration between 5 and 10% marks the onset of the amorphization transition. The computed amorphized configurations were in agreement with recent experimental observations. It was found that the transition becomes less abrupt with vacancy concentration as the temperature increases and determine the surface roughness of the defective graphene as a function of vacancy concentration. It was also found that the electronic density of states of vacancy-amorphized graphene was characterized by introduction of localized states near the Fermi level of perfect single-layer graphene.

Analysis of Vacancy-Induced Amorphization of Single-Layer Graphene. C.Carpenter, A.Ramasubramaniam, D.Maroudas: Applied Physics Letters, 2012, 100[2], 203105