Asymmetric Growth of Monolayer Graphene on Cu Foil by Space‐Confined CVD

Abstract

Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most efficient method for growing graphene while its performance heavily relies on the growth environment. In this work, we examine the growth of continuous monolayer graphene films using CVD in an asymmetric environment by placing the Cu foil substrate on a specially designed semicircular quartz boat with grooves. We find that the asymmetry plays a key role in the growth of graphene and the quality of graphene on the bottom surface of Cu foil is higher than that on the top surface. This difference is attributed to different oxygen and carbon source concentration on the two surfaces of Cu foil, which leads to different nucleation density, grain size, and growth rate. COMSOL simulation confirms this hypothesis and reveals that the lower gas flow velocity on the bottom is responsible for the higher oxygen content and less carbon source supply, promoting higher-quality graphene. Based on this asymmetric mechanism, we achieve stable and efficient batch production of high-quality graphene using a special substrate support. Our method has guiding significance for the stable and batch growth of high-quality graphene or other two dimensional (2D) materials in spatial design strategies.

Site-Selective Synthesis of Bilayer Graphene on Cu Substrates Using Titanium as a Carbon Diffusion Barrier

“…Following this, the deposition rate was increased to 0.5 Å/s until the desired thickness was reached. Acetone (99.5%, Sinopharm Reagent) was used as the carbon source, which was accurately fed into the system with a sustained and controlled release method as described in our previous study . Acetone and nitrile butadiene rubber-modified phenolic resin (NBR-PR) were uniformly mixed in a ratio of 4:1 to form a sol, and 10 μL of the mixed sol was placed in the feeder, which was then placed at the inlet end of the quartz tube.…”

“…Acetone (99.5%, Sinopharm Reagent) was used as the carbon source, which was accurately fed into the system with a sustained and controlled release method as described in our previous study. 44 Acetone and nitrile butadiene rubber-modified phenolic resin (NBR-PR) were uniformly mixed in a ratio of 4:1 to form a sol, and 10 μL of the mixed sol was placed in the feeder, which was then placed at the inlet end of the quartz tube. In order to precisely control the feed of the carbon source, cooling and heating devices were set up around the feeder.…”