【Frontiers in HaiChuan Chemical Technology】A Chinese research team has achieved stable adsorption of inert gases on the surface of graphene under room temperature and normal pressure conditions

Thread Content

Recently, the teams led by Gao Libo and Yuan Guowen from the School of Physics at Nanjing University, in collaboration with Professor Li Shaochun, Professor Ju Minggang from Southeast University, Professor Zhou Wu from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and other collaborators, achieved stable adsorption of inert gases on the surface of graphene under room temperature and normal pressure conditions. The relevant research findings were published in the journal **Nature Reviews** under the title “Ripple-assisted adsorption of noble gases on graphene at room temperature” (National Science Review, 13, nwaf506, 2026). The team led by Gao Libo and Yuan Guowen from Nanjing University, together with their collaborators, have discovered a new adsorption mechanism driven by the \"ripples\" in layered materials themselves – namely \"ripple-assisted adsorption\". This mechanism enables the stable adsorption of inert gases on the surface of graphene at room temperature and normal pressure, breaking away from the traditional binary distinction between physical adsorption and chemical adsorption, and opening up new possibilities in fields such as gas storage, separation, and catalysis. Perhaps you imagine graphene as a perfectly flat \"atomic plane,\" but in reality, free-standing graphene is more like a slightly undulating sheet, with natural atomic-scale ripples on its surface; these ripples can be regarded as a kind of \"fourth dimension\" in terms of structure. The research team discovered that it was these previously overlooked nanoripples that played a key role in \"capturing\" inert gases. Theoretical calculations show that as the undulations of graphene increase, its local curvature increases significantly. This geometric deformation enhances the interaction between the inert gas atoms and the carbon atoms, thereby firmly \"holding\" the gas atoms in place. The research team named this entirely new adsorption mechanism “wave-assisted adsorption”. The team used a scanning tunneling microscope to characterize graphene with adsorbed xenon atoms, and for the first time directly observed xenon atoms arranged in a close-packed crystal structure on the graphene surface, with an interatomic distance of about 6.8 Å, aligned with the lattice direction of graphene. Argon atoms and helium atoms form periodically arranged dimeric structures. This adsorption process is highly reversible. When the temperature rises to about 300 °C, the gas is completely desorbed, while the graphene lattice structure remains intact, demonstrating excellent cycle stability. Further research found that the \"wavy-wave assisted adsorption\" mechanism is applicable not only to graphene but has also been successfully extended to various layered materials such as molybdenum disulfide, niobium diselenide, and single-walled carbon nanotubes. After adsorbing gases, the physical properties of these materials such as their electrical conductivity, superconducting characteristics, and photoluminescence undergo significant changes; however, they return to their original states once the gas is desorbed, demonstrating excellent controllability and reversibility. Liu Weilin, Huang Xianlei, and Dou Liguo, doctoral students at Nanjing University, Fang Qianglong, a doctoral student at Southeast University, and Li Ang from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences are the co-first authors of the paper. Associate Professor Yuan Guowen from Nanjing University, Professor Zhou Wu from the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Ju Minggang from Southeast University, Professor Li Shaochun from Nanjing University, and Professor Gao Libo from Nanjing University are the co-corresponding authors of the paper. Academician Cheng Huiming, Researcher Liu Chang, and Researcher Hou Pengxiang from the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as Professor Wang Jinlan from Southeast University, provided great assistance. This work relies on platforms such as the School of Physics at Nanjing University, the National Key Laboratory of Physics of Solid Microstructures, and the Collaborative Innovation Center for Artificial Microstructure Science and Technology. It has received support from various projects including the National Natural Science Foundation, the Jiangsu Provincial Natural Science Foundation, key research and development programs, and the Xiaomi Foundation.