Nanoscale studies of the oxidation and hydrogenation of graphite surface

Nanoscale studies of the thermal oxidation and hydrogenation of graphite surfaces have been investigated using scanning tunnelling microscopy and scanning tunnelling spectroscopy. These techniques have been used to study the electronic states of the islands located at the edges of thermally oxidized and hydrogen-etched graphite surface. Spectroscopy results have shown the presence of Q2g−(π), Q2u−(π), Q2u−(π*), Q2g−(π*), IS and negative differential resistance electronic states recorded over islands of such treated graphite. However, these states vanish on various regions on the thermally oxidized graphite islands. This is ascribed to the disappearance of π/π* bands when the graphite surface oxidizes and indicates the presence of oxygenated groups on the graphite surface.