Mercury removal from graphene by bombardment with xenon clusters: Computer simulation

Molecular dynamics simulation of the bombardment of a target with a Xe(13)cluster beam at energies of 5-30 eV and incidence angles of 0A degrees-60A degrees aiming to remove a mercury film from partially hydrogenated imperfect graphene has been performed. The graphene is completely cleaned of mercury at a cluster energy of E (Xe) a parts per thousand yen 15 eV. It has been revealed that the mercury film tends to form a droplet. Mercury is removed from the graphene film via sputtering of single atoms and droplet detachment. The energy of interaction of mercury with graphene is very low and weakly depends on the incident beam energy. The horizontal mobility of atoms in the liquid metal film has a significantly higher value than their vertical mobility. A stress in graphene resulting from forces normal to the sheet plane is noticeably higher than that due to forces acting in its plane. Bombardment at an angle of incidence of 45A degrees is more efficient than that at incidence angles of 0A degrees and 60A degrees and leads to lower graphene roughness.