Atomically precise, custom-design origami graphene nanostructures

The construction of atomically precise carbon nanostructures holds promise for developing materials for scientific study and nanotechnology applications. Recently, origami, the ancient art of paper folding, has been widely used in diverse areas, from architecture to battery design and DNA nanofabrication. However, atomically precise and controllable graphene origami for the creation of custom-design GNSs with quantum features remains an open challenge. In this talk, we will report that graphene origami is an efficient way to convert graphene into atomically precise, complex nanostructures. By scanning tunneling microscope manipulation at low temperature, we repeatedly fold and unfold graphene nanoislands (GNIs) along an arbitrarily chosen direction. A bilayer graphene stack featuring a tunable twist angle and a tubular edge connection between the layers is formed. Folding single-crystal GNIs creates tubular edges with specified chirality and one-dimensional electronic features similar to those of carbon nanotubes, whereas folding bicrystal GNIs creates well-defined intramolecular junctions. The present atomically precise graphene origami provides a platform for constructing carbon nanostructures with engineered quantum properties and, ultimately, quantum machines.