Anchoring of single-platinum-adatoms on cyanographene: Experiment and theory

[Display omitted] •We identified that –CN groups were able to form stable complexes with Pt0/Pt2+ atoms/ions.•We synthetized cyanographene with 3.7 wt % single Pt adatoms immobilized onto its surface.•Cyanographene is a perspective material for anchoring metal adatoms with potential implications as single-atom-catalysts. Graphene decorated with isolated single atoms (SAs) offers new vista to magnetic and spintronic devices up to single-atom catalysts. While sp atoms can be efficiently bound to graphene, d-block atoms require anchoring groups to prevent nanoparticle formation. Identification of suitable binding sites is a challenging task because the interaction among graphene, anchoring groups and adatoms is very complex. Using density functional theory (DFT) we explored strength and nature of interactions of graphene covalently functionalized by −OH, −CN, −F, and −H groups as anchors for Pt SAs. Both theory and experiment showed that −CN groups acted as suitable ligand enabling immobilization of 3.7 wt % single Pt adatoms. The findings imply that CN functionalized graphene, i.e., cyanographene, is a perspective material for anchoring metal adatoms with potential implications as single-atom-catalysts.