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The researchers said their discovery offers insight into the growth of graphene layers and might result in methods for assembling components of graphene-based computer circuits.

Paolo Lacovig, Monica Pozzo, Dario Alfe, Paolo Vilmercati, Alessandro Baraldi and Silvano Lizzit said their spectroscopic study suggests graphene grows in the form of tiny islands built of concentric rings of carbon atoms. The islands are strongly bonded to the iridium surface at their perimeters, but are not bonded to the iridium at their centers, which causes them to bulge upward in the middle to form minuscule geodesic domes, the researchers said.

And, by adjusting the conditions as the carbon is deposited on the iridium, the scientists said they discovered they could vary the size of the carbon domes from a few nanometers to hundreds of nanometers across.

The findings are presented in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Jorge Sofo and Renee Diehl of Penn State University highlight the graphene nanodome research in a "Viewpoint" appearing in the journal Physics.

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