Article Title

Growth of large-area single- and Bi-layer graphene by controlled carbon precipitation on polycrystalline Ni surfaces

Authors

Alfonso Reina, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Stefan Thiele, Institut für Physik and Institut für Mikro- und Nanotechnologien, Technische Universitt Ilmenau, Ilmenau 98684, Germany
Xiaoting Jia, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Sreekar Bhaviripudi, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Mildred S. Dresselhaus, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
Juergen A. Schaefer, Institut für Physik and Institut für Mikro- und Nanotechnologien, Technische Universitt Ilmenau, Ilmenau 98684, Germany
Jing Kong, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA

Keywords

Graphene, chemical vapor deposition, nickel catalyst, carbon nanomaterials

Abstract

We report graphene films composed mostly of one or two layers of graphene grown by controlled carbon precipitation on the surface of polycrystalline Ni thin films during atmospheric chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Controlling both the methane concentration during CVD and the substrate cooling rate during graphene growth can signifi cantly improve the thickness uniformity. As a result, one- or two- layer graphene regions occupy up to 87% of the fi lm area. Single layer coverage accounts for 5% 11% of the overall fi lm. These regions expand across multiple grain boundaries of the underlying polycrystalline Ni fi lm. The number density of sites with multilayer graphene/graphite (>2 layers) is reduced as the cooling rate decreases. These fi lms can also be transferred to other substrates and their sizes are only limited by the sizes of the Ni fi lm and the CVD chamber. Here, we demonstrate the formation of fi lms as large as 1 in2 . These fi ndings represent an important step towards the fabrication of large-scale high-quality graphene samples.

Graphical Abstract

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-009-9059-y

Publisher

Tsinghua University Press

Recommended Citation

Alfonso Reina,Stefan Thiele,Xiaoting Jia,Sreekar Bhaviripudi,Mildred S. Dresselhaus,Juergen A. Schaefer,Jing Kong, Growth of large-area single- and Bi-layer graphene by controlled carbon precipitation on polycrystalline Ni surfaces. NanoRes.2009, 2: 509-516