Decoding the role of graphene corrugations on the electronic structure of molecules is elemental if graphene-based electrodes are to be integrated with nanoscale devices. In collaboration with graphene synthesis group at EMPA and computational physics team at University of Limerick, we have verified that atomic scale wrinkles on chemical vapor phase grown graphene promote molecular superstructure formation and enhance free-molecular electronic states. A clear trend is observed where molecular energy gap scales with wrinkle height, with wrinkles taller than 2 nm effectively screening metal induced hybridization. Possible connections to similar surface corrugations on emerging 2D materials and its impact on molecular sensing and logic devices will be outlined.

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Bio

Peter Nirmalraj received his PhD in physical chemistry (2010) from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. He then joined IBM-Zurich Research (2011) to develop a liquid-based scanning tunneling microscope to resolve the assembly and energetics of organic molecules on metals and 2D materials. Currently he is a group leader (2017) in biomolecular physics at the Adolphe Merkle Institute, University of Fribourg. His current research activities include in-situ studies on protein aggregation related to neurodegenerative diseases and chemically driven protein denaturation with atomic force microscopy.