Publisher Correction: Characterization of nitrogen doped graphene bilayers synthesized by fast, low temperature microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Characterization of nitrogen doped grapheme bilayers synthesized by fast, low temperature microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition.

New techniques to manipulate the electronic properties of few layer 2D materials, unveiling new physical phenomena as well as possibilities for new device applications have brought renewed interest to these systems. Therefore, the quest for reproducible methods for the large scale synthesis, as well as the manipulation, characterization and deeper understanding of these structures is a very active field of research. We here report the production of nitrogen doped bilayer graphene in a fast single step (2.5 minutes), at reduced temperatures (760 °C) using microwave plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (MW-PECVD). Raman spectroscopy confirmed that nitrogen-doped bilayer structures were produced by this method. XPS analysis showed that we achieved control of the concentration of nitrogen dopants incorporated into the final samples. We have performed state of the art parameter-free simulations to investigate the cause of an unexpected splitting of the XPS signal as the concentration of nitrogen defects increased. We show that this splitting is due to the formation of interlayer bonds mediated by nitrogen defects on the layers of the material. The occurrence of these bonds may result in very specific electronic and mechanical properties of the bilayer structures.

Synthesis of oxocarbon-encapsulated gold nanoparticles with blue-shifted localized surface plasmon resonance by pulsed laser ablation in water with CO2 absorbers.

Colloidal suspensions of oxocarbon-encapsulated gold nanoparticles have been synthesized in a one-step procedure by pulsed-laser ablation (PLA) at 532 nm of a solid gold target placed in aqueous solution containing CO2 absorbers, but without any stabilizing agent. Multi-wavelength surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy allows the identification of adsorbed amorphous carbon and graphite, Au-carbonyl, Au coordinated CO2-derived bicarbonates/carbonates and hydroxyl groups around the AuNPs core. Scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive x-ray analysis and high resolution transmission electron microscopy highlight the organic shell structure around the crystalline metal core. The stability of the colloidal solution of nanocomposites (NCs) seems to be driven by solvation forces and is achieved only in neutral or basic pH using monovalent hydroxide counter-ions (NaOH, KOH). The NCs are characterized by a blue shift of the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) band typical of metal-ligand stabilization by terminal π-back bonding, attributed to a core charging effect caused by Au-carbonyls. Total organic carbon measurements detect the final content of organic carbon in the colloidal solution of NCs that is about six times higher than the value of the water solution used to perform PLA. The colloidal dispersions of NCs are stable for months and are applied as analytical probes in amino glycoside antibiotic LSPR based sensing.