From the creation of carbon nanomembranes in a low energy electron microscope to perforation with highly charged ions

Carbon nanomembranes are materials with only nm thickness, which can be used as freestanding membranes in filtration applications. They exhibit interesting properties as they can be e.g. transformed into (semi-)metallic graphene, but are insulating in their pristine phase. Using a Low Energy Electron Microscope allowed us to follow the formation of a carbon nanomembrane by electron-induced cross-linking of a self-assembled monolayer in-situ and in real-time. Releasing the membrane from the substrate and irradiating it with highly chared ions leads finally to regularely sized nanopores.