The Identification of Grain Boundaries in Two-Dimensional Graphene Using Moire Pattern Fringe

Abstract

Grain boundaries (GBs) are inevitable in large-area materials and affect material's properties [1]. Therefore, variety of methods for identification of GBs has been implemented by various tools including transmission electron microscopy which using diffraction pattern or digital diffractogram [2]. However, a facile GBs identification method, especially in the case of low-angle GBs, has not been established well yet. In this study, we investigated the effects of interlayer rotations to the identification of GBs using moire pattern fringe of graphene bilayers with a GB [3].

From the relation between interlayer rotations and identification of GBs, we suggested a critical condition between adjacent moire fringe spacings, using Frank's formula. Moreover, we reported the facile identification of GBs even in single-layer graphene by induced moire patterns with an artificial reference overlay. This result will be useful on the study of two-dimensional defects such as intrinsic GB studies.