Chemical Vapor Deposition of High Quality Graphene Films from Carbon Dioxide Atmospheres

Abstract

The realization of graphene-based, next-generation electronic applications essentially depends on a reproducible, large-scale production of graphene films via chemical vapor deposition (CVD). We demonstrate how key challenges such as uniformity and homogeneity of the copper metal substrate as well as the growth chemistry can be improved by the use of carbon dioxide and carbon dioxide enriched gas atmospheres. Our approach enables graphene film production protocols free of elemental hydrogen and provides graphene layers of superior quality compared to samples produced by conventional hydrogen/methane based CVD processes. The substrates and resulting graphene films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and Raman microscopy, sheet resistance and transport measurements. The superior quality of the as-grown graphene films on copper is indicated by Raman maps revealing average G band widths as low as 18 ± 8 cm(-1) at 514.5 nm excitation. In addition, high charge carrier mobilities of up to 1975 cm(2)/(V s) were observed for electrons in transferred films obtained from a carbon dioxide based growth protocol. The enhanced graphene film quality can be explained by the mild oxidation properties of carbon dioxide, which at high temperatures enables an uniform conditioning of the substrates by an efficient removal of pre-existing and emerging carbon impurities and a continuous suppression and in situ etching of carbon of lesser quality being co-deposited during the CVD growth.

Graphene-Enabled Electrodes for Electrocardiogram Monitoring

“…The GN was produced utilising hydrogen (H 2 ) and methane (CH 4 ) gases based on the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth procedure, similar to those used elsewhere in the literature on copper (Cu) substrates [17,18,19] to yield monolayer graphene films. These films were subsequently transferred to a Ag layer of the target electrodes via a wet chemical approach to etch away the Cu substrate, involving a spin-coated Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) support layer which is later removed from the GN–Ag substrate form with solvents, akin to work carried out elsewhere [20,21]. The details of growth and transfer processes can be seen in Figure 1, which shows the fabricated electrode within a very thin GN layer—which was about 3.7 Å (0.37 nm)—for ECG sensing applications.…”

Phosphorene and Phosphorene‐Based Materials – Prospects for Future Applications

“…), h ‐BN, In 2 Se 3 , metal oxides and graphene have successfully been prepared using CVD techniques . Among them, the CVD growth of 2D graphene is now well developed . Although this direct chemical synthesis method holds many advantages for the production of 2D materials, its use for phosphorene fabrication has not been demonstrated, possibly due to the absence of suitable substrates and precursors, as well as chemical reactivity of phosphorene.…”

Low‐Temperature Synthesis of Graphene/SiC Nanocomposite Anodes with Super‐Long Cycling Stability

“…Nonetheles, graphene nanosheets are easy to stack together owing to the strong van der Waals and π‐π superposition principle, which significantly decrease the surface area and the attachment sites of Li + , and result in unsatisfactory electrochemical properties ,, chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and epitaxial growth ,,.…”