It is generally accepted that supported graphene is hydrophobic and that its water contact angle is similar to that of graphite. Here, we show that the water contact angles of freshly prepared supported graphene and graphite surfaces increase when they are exposed to ambient air. By using infrared spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy we demonstrate that airborne hydrocarbons adsorb on graphitic surfaces, and that a concurrent decrease in the water contact angle occurs when these contaminants are partially removed by both thermal annealing and controlled ultraviolet-O3 treatment. Our findings indicate that graphitic surfaces are more hydrophilic than previously believed, and suggest that previously reported data on the wettability of graphitic surfaces may have been affected by unintentional hydrocarbon contamination from ambient air.

Because of the atomic thinness of graphene, its integration into a device will always involve its interaction with at least one supporting substrate, making the surface energy of graphene critical to its real-life applications. In the current paper, the contact angle of graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was monitored temporally after synthesis using water, diiodomethane, ethylene glycol, and glycerol. The surface energy was then calculated based on the contact angle data by the Fowkes, Owens-Wendt (extended Fowkes), and Neumann models. The surface energy of fresh CVD graphene grown on a copper substrate (G/Cu) immediately after synthesis was determined to be 62.2 ± 3.1 mJ/m(2) (Fowkes), 53.0 ± 4.3 mJ/m(2) (Owens-Wendt) and 63.8 ± 2.0 mJ/m(2) (Neumann), which decreased to 45.6 ± 3.9, 37.5 ± 2.3, and 57.4 ± 2.1 mJ/m(2), respectively, after 24 h of air exposure. The ellipsometry characterization indicates that the surface energy of G/Cu is affected by airborne hydrocarbon contamination. G/Cu exhibits the highest surface energy immediately after synthesis, and the surface energy decreases after airborne contamination occurs. The root cause of intrinsically mild polarity of G/Cu surface is discussed.

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This paper reports the enhancement of long-term oxidation of copper at room temperature by a graphene coating. Previous studies showed that graphene is an effective anticorrosion barrier against short-term thermal and electrochemical oxidation of metals. Here, we show that a graphene coating can, on the contrary, accelerate long-term oxidation of an underlying copper substrate in ambient atmosphere at room temperature. After 6 months of exposure in air, both Raman spectroscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy indicated that graphene-coated copper foil had a higher degree of oxidation than uncoated foil, although X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy showed that the surface concentration of Cu(2+) was higher for the uncoated sample. In addition, we observed that the oxidation of graphene-coated copper foil was not homogeneous and occurred within micrometer-sized domains. The corrosion enhancement effect of graphene was attributed to its ability to promote electrochemical corrosion of copper.

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