Robust magnetic moments on the basal plane of the graphene sheet effectively induced by OH groups

Inducing robust magnetic moments on the basal plane of the graphene sheet is very difficult and is one of the greatest challenges in the study of physical chemistry of graphene materials. Theoretical studies predicted that introduction of a kind of sp3-type defects formed by OH groups is an effective pathway to achieve this goal [Boukhvalov, D. W. & Katsnelson, M. I. ACS Nano 5, 2440–2446 (2011)]. Here we demonstrate that OH groups can efficiently induce robust magnetic moments on the basal plane of the graphene sheet. We show that the inducing efficiency can reach as high as 217 μB per 1000 OH groups. More interestingly, the magnetic moments are robust and can survive even at 900°C. Our findings highlight the importance of OH group as an effective sp3-type candidate for inducing robust magnetic moments on the basal plane of the graphene sheet.