Changes in work function due to NO2 adsorption on monolayer and bilayer epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001)

The electronic properties of monolayer graphene grown epitaxially on SiC(0001) are known to be highly sensitive to the presence of NO2 molecules. The presence of small areas of bilayer graphene, on the other hand, considerably reduces the overall sensitivity of the surface. We investigate how NO2 molecules interact with monolayer and bilayer graphene, both free-standing and on a SiC(0001) substrate. We show that it is necessary to explicitly include the effect of the substrate in order to reproduce the experimental results. When monolayer graphene is present on SiC, there is a large charge transfer from the interface between the buffer layer and the SiC substrate to the molecule. As a result, the surface work function increases by 0.9 eV after molecular adsorption. A graphene bilayer is more effective at screening this interfacial charge, and so the charge transfer and change in work function after NO2 adsorption is much smaller.