Kinetics of Single-Layer Graphite Oxidation: Evaluation by Electron Microscopy

Abstract

Etch-decoration reveals that the rate of removal of carbon atoms exposed at monolayer steps on graphite surfaces is very different from the rate of removal, under identical conditions, at multilayer steps. At 1113 degrees K and a pressure of 1.33 newtons per square meter of oxygen, the rate of oxidation (along the layer planes) is less by a factor of nearly 100 than that at multilayer steps.