Quantum transport in chemically functionalized graphene at high magnetic field: Defect-induced critical states and breakdown of electron-hole symmetry

© 2014 IOP Publishing Ltd. Unconventional magnetotransport fingerprints in the quantum Hall regime (with applied magnetic fields from one to several tens of Tesla) in chemically functionalized graphene are reported. Upon chemical adsorption of monoatomic oxygen (from 0.5% to few percents), the electron-hole symmetry of Landau levels (LLs) is broken, while a double-peaked conductivity develops at lowenergy, resulting from the formation of critical states conveyed by the random network of defects-induced impurity states. Scaling analysis hints towards the existence of an additional zero-energy quantized Hall conductance plateau, which is here not connected to degeneracy lifting of LLs by sublattice symmetry breaking. This singularly contrasts with usual interpretation, and unveils a new playground for tailoring the fundamental characteristics of the quantum Hall effect.