The thermal stability of graphene/graphane nanoribbons was investigated using density functional theory. It was found that the energy barriers for the diffusion of hydrogen atoms on the zig-zag and armchair interfaces of graphene/graphane nanoribbons were 2.86 and 3.17eV, respectively, while the diffusion barrier of an isolated H atom on pristine graphene was only ∼0.3eV. These results unambiguously demonstrated that the thermal stability of graphene/graphane nanoribbons could be enhanced significantly by increasing the hydrogen diffusion barriers through graphene/graphane interface engineering. This may provide new insights for viable applications of graphene/graphane nanoribbons.

Enhanced Stability of Hydrogen Atoms at the Graphene/Graphane Interface of Nanoribbons. Ao, Z.M., Hernández-Nieves, A.D., Peeters, F.M., Li, S.: Applied Physics Letters, 2010, 97[23], 233109