A new adsorption substrate: Single crystal exfoliated graphite

Abstract

We describe the controlled exfoliation of single crystal graphite flakes intercalated to stage eleven with SbCl5. The resulting exposed surface remains well oriented in the basal plane. Our best sample to date has an internal surface area of 6 Torr cc and an in-plane mosaic of 2.3°HWHM (half-width at half-maximum). High resolution x-ray scattering from adsorbed krypton reveals an average step-free surface size of at least 2000 Å. Experiments which probe orientational information in the layer planes should now be possible.