%0 Journal Article
%T Graphite Nanoeraser
%A Ze Liu
%A Peter. B£żggild
%A Jia-rui Yang
%A Yao Cheng
%A Francois Grey
%A Yi-lun Liu
%A Li Wang
%A Quan-shui Zheng
%J Physics
%D 2010
%I arXiv
%R 10.1088/0957-4484/22/26/265706
%X We present here a method for cleaning intermediate-size (5~50nm) contamination from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Electron beam deposition causes a continuous increase of carbonaceous material on graphene and graphite surfaces, which is difficult to remove by conventional techniques. Direct mechanical wiping using a graphite nanoeraser is observed to drastically reduce the amount of contamination. After the mechanical removal of contamination, the graphite surfaces were able to self-retract after shearing, indicating that van der Waals contact bonding is restored. Since contact bonding provides an indication of a level of cleanliness normally only attainable in a high-quality clean-room, we discuss potential applications in preparation of ultraclean surfaces.
%U http://arxiv.org/abs/1010.4102v1