Multilayer graphene grown by precipitation upon cooling of nickel on diamond

Abstract

Multilayer graphene is grown by precipitation upon cooling of a thin nickel film deposited by e-beam evaporation on single crystal diamond (001) oriented substrates. Nickel acts as a strong catalyst inducing the dissolution of carbon from diamond into the metal. Carbon segregation produces multilayers of graphene on the top surface. Characterization by Raman spectroscopy reveals that these thin layers display relatively narrow Raman phonon peaks that are typically associated with graphene. Atomic force microscope measurements reveal a multigrain structure that reproduces small domains in the nickel film. The multilayer graphene is transferred onto a optical microscope glass slide for further analysis. The thickness of the layers estimated from optical transmission measurements is 12 nm. The catalytic reaction found for nickel on diamond is not observed when glassy carbon is used as substrate. This method provides a venue for the fabrication of large area graphene films.

Architecting graphene nanowalls on diamond powder surface

“…This result can be understood based on a very low solubility of carbon on copper [29]. It has been reported that the catalyst is closely related to the growth of multilayer graphene by PUC on diamond [30]. Consequently, an extended PUC growth mechanism for GNW is proposed to interpret the growth GNWs on the diamond substrate that matches the experiment results very well.…”

Molecular beam growth of graphene nanocrystals on dielectric substrates

“…Mica samples are cleaved ex-situ and are loaded immediately into the UHV system. The UHV chamber (base pressure ∼ 6 × 10 −10 mbar) incorporates a solid carbon source that is made of glassy carbon, similar to that employed for p-doping in III-V MBE [16] and other carbon-related growth [17,18]. The dimensions of the carbon source are 10 × 2.5 × 0.3 mm 3 .…”

Graphene Film Growth on Polycrystalline Metals

“…38 Growth of graphene on nickel surfaces has also been demonstrated based on diffusion and segregation of carbon from underlying amorphous carbon or nanodiamond films. 39,40 Conversely nickel films have been shown to transform the underlying carbon source to graphene at high temperature, forming bilayer graphene films directly on insulating substrates from polymers or self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) at low pressure conditions, 41 and few-layer graphene on The growth of uniform monolayer and bilayer graphene films has been achieved for CVD of methane at low pressures and high temperatures (1000 -1050 °C). Temperature is found to be an important factor for controlling graphene thickness, with thicker films (>5 layers) being produced at higher temperatures.…”