Fabrication and structure characterization of quasi-2-dimensional amorphous carbon structures

Quasi-2-dimensional total amorphous and half-amorphous carbon structures are fabricated from single-layer or few-layer of graphene via high-energy electron beam irradiation. Sample structures before and after electron beam irradiation are recorded by high resolution imaging and coherent nano-area electron diffraction using transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The atomic pair distribution functions of the sample are obtained from electron diffraction patterns. In the quasi-2-dimensional amorphous carbon material, the carbon hexagonal ring structure is not the main structural feature anymore, and the low order nearest distances between carbon atoms are slightly different from that in perfect graphene. Although the sample shows a long-range disordered atomic arrangement, it still holds short-range order and even middle-range order extending to 0.5 nm, as many zigzag carbon chains remain after electron beam irradiation.