Electrochemical Delamination of CVD-Grown Graphene Film: Toward the Recyclable Use of Copper Catalyst

Abstract

The separation of chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene from the metallic catalyst it is grown on, followed by a subsequent transfer to a dielectric substrate, is currently the adopted method for device fabrication. Most transfer techniques use a chemical etching method to dissolve the metal catalysts, thus imposing high material cost in large-scale fabrication. Here, we demonstrate a highly efficient, nondestructive electrochemical route for the delamination of CVD graphene film from metal surfaces. The electrochemically delaminated graphene films are continuous over 95% of the surface and exhibit increasingly better electronic quality after several growth cycles on the reused copper catalyst, due to the suppression of quasi-periodical nanoripples induced by copper step edges. The electrochemical delamination process affords the advantages of high efficiency, low-cost recyclability, and minimal use of etching chemicals.

Graphene: The quest for supercarbon

“…And it should benefit from a deal signed in September that will see fledgling graphene producer Bluestone Global Tech of Wappingers Falls, New York, open a pre-production facility and offices at the National Graphene Institute in Manchester, the hub of Britain's graphene effort. This year, Bluestone began speeding up production and lowering costs by using bubbles of hydrogen to tease large graphene monolayers away from the copper foil without etching 4,5 .…”

Flexible Supercapacitors – Development of Bendable Carbon Architectures

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Unique synthesis of graphene-based materials for clean energy and biological sensing applications

“…CVD and surface segregation are two of the most promising methods to produce graphene over large areas. Besides difficulty in controlling the number and structural quality of graphene layers on a whole substrate, a challenge for graphene produced by CVD and surface segregation is reliable and scalable transfer of the fabricated graphene from the synthesized substrate to a target platform for practical applications in ultrafast optoelectronic devices, energy generation and storage, and chemical and biological sensors [110]. …”