Selective adsorption of Dy on intercalated epitaxial graphene*

Manipulation of metal deposition and growth morphology on graphene is essential for promising applications of graphene, e.g., magnetic nanoislands for computer memory and stable nanoparticles for catalytic activity. In this study, we present an effective method to control the adsorption and nucleation property of metal ions on graphene via metal intercalation. We experimentally demonstrate that Dy adatoms show highly selective adsorption behavior on Dy-intercalated epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) by scanning tunnelling microscopy. This adsorption selectivity is theoretically explained by comparing adsorption energies on graphene regions with different intercalation configurations using first-principles methods based on density functional theory. Our results show that the metal intercalation can be an effective way for the functional manipulation of graphene and enlarge the scope of graphene application.