Strain‐Induced Orientation‐Selective Cutting of Graphene into Graphene Nanoribbons on Oxidation

Cut to ribbons: Making atomically well-controlled graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is prerequisite for many graphene applications. Ab initio calculations reveal that, on applying a uniaxial external tensile strain, O atoms adsorbed on graphene form parallel epoxy chains, and subsequent cutting by oxygen attack gives GNRs instead of the quantum dots that are obtained from unstrained graphene (see picture).