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Annealing free, clean graphene transfer using alternative polymer scaffolds
Joshua D Wood1, Gregory P Doidge, Enrique A Carrion
1Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Beckman Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA. Micro and Nanotechnology Lab, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA.
Poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC) scaffolds enable the cleanest chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene transfers. This annealing-free method yields atomically-clean nanomaterials for advanced applications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Transferring graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is crucial for its application in electronics and other fields.
- Existing transfer methods often introduce defects, roughness, and chemical doping, limiting graphene's performance.
- Polymer scaffolds are commonly used, but their reactivity and compatibility with graphene vary significantly.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the effectiveness of different polymer scaffolds for clean graphene transfer.
- To identify an optimal polymer scaffold that minimizes defects and contamination during graphene transfer.
- To demonstrate the versatility of the optimal transfer method for various 2D materials.
Main Methods:
- Graphene grown via CVD was transferred using four polymer scaffolds: poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), poly(lactic acid) (PLA), poly(phthalaldehyde) (PPA), and poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC).
- Extensive characterization was performed using optical microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM).
- Comparative analysis focused on surface roughness, chemical doping, and overall transfer quality.
Main Results:
- Poly(bisphenol A carbonate) (PC) scaffolds provided the cleanest graphene transfers without requiring any annealing.
- Graphene transferred with PLA, PPA, and PMMA scaffolds exhibited significantly higher roughness (two-fold) and chemical doping (five-fold).
- The PC scaffold enabled clean transfer of multilayer graphene, fluorinated graphene, and hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN).
Conclusions:
- Optimally reactive PC scaffolds are superior for achieving high-quality, contamination-free graphene transfer.
- The developed annealing-free transfer method using PC is compatible with various 2D materials.
- This technique facilitates the use of atomically-clean nanomaterials in sensitive applications like biomolecule encapsulation and flexible electronics.
