ABSTRACT
Graphene – a one-atom-thick layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice – is the frontrunner of the two-dimensional materials and has been attracting a great deal of interest for the last decade both from a fundamental and from an applicative point of view. While, in order to match the requirements of industries, many research efforts have been extensively devoted to growth and characterization of large-scale graphene, alternative studies have been instead focusing on the creation of graphene structures within areas of few to hundreds of nanometers, that is, graphene nanodots. In this chapter, we will cover those studies focused on the definition, characterization, fundamental properties and applicability of graphene nanodots.
In particular, we will first review recent strategies used to fabricate such nanosized structures both individually and in periodic arrays, highlighting advantages, technical challenges and current limitations. Next, we will describe and discuss novel physical phenomena arising in graphene nanodots due to the unique behavior of charge carriers in such systems. Finally, the utilization of periodic arrays of nanodots as promising building blocks to design novel electronic and optoelectronic graphene-based architectures will be discussed.
