  Incorporating heteroatoms into the graphene lattice may be used to tailor its
electronic, mechanical and chemical properties. Direct substitutions have thus
far been limited to incidental Si impurities and P, N and B dopants introduced
using low-energy ion implantation. We present here the heaviest impurity to
date, namely $^{74}$Ge$^+$ ions implanted into monolayer graphene. Although
sample contamination remains an issue, atomic resolution scanning transmission
electron microscopy imaging and quantitative image simulations show that Ge can
either directly substitute single atoms, bonding to three carbon neighbors in a
buckled out-of-plane configuration, or occupy an in-plane position in a
divacancy. First principles molecular dynamics provides further atomistic
insight into the implantation process, revealing a strong chemical effect that
enables implantation below the graphene displacement threshold energy. Our
results show that heavy atoms can be implanted into the graphene lattice,
pointing a way towards advanced applications such as single-atom catalysis with
graphene as the template.
