Functionalization of graphene by boronic acid-based organic molecules

In this paper, synthesis of high-quality large area graphene and alteration of its electrical properties by a non-covalent doping method via boronic acid-based organic small molecules were reported. A chemical vapor deposition method was used for large area graphene synthesis. In order to modify electrical properties of graphene, 3,5-difluorophenyl boronic acid and 3,4,5-trimethoxyphenyl boronic acid organic molecules have been used. The structural data and the energy level of molecules were obtained from density functional theory-based computational simulations. The electrical properties of doped and undoped graphene films were examined by Hall-effect measurement. It has been found that the density of charge carrier changes after doping due to the nature of molecules. Our results show that the electrical properties of graphene can effectively be manipulated via doping by phenylboronic compounds opening possibilities of application in electronics and optoelectronics for graphene.