The two-dimensional material graphene has numerous
potential applications in nano(opto)electronics, which inevitably involve
metal graphene interfaces.Theoretical approaches have been employed to
examine metal graphene interfaces, but experimental evidence is currently
lacking. Here, we combine atomic force microscopy (AFM) based dynamic
force measurements and density functional theory calculations to quantify
the interaction between metal-coated AFM tips and graphene under ambient conditions. The results show that copper has the strongest affinity to
graphene among the studied metals (Cu, Ag, Au, Pt, Si), which has important implications for the construction of a new generation of electronic devices.
Observed differences in the nature of the metalgraphene bonding are well reproduced by the calculations, which included nonlocal HartreeFock
exchange and van der Waals effects