Facile graphene transfer directly to target substrates with a reusable metal catalyst

High-throughput, roll-to-roll growth and transferring of high-quality, large-area chemical vapor deposited (CVD) graphene directly onto a target substrate with a reusable metal catalyst is an enabling technology for flexible optoelectronics. We explore the direct transfer via hot lamination of CVD graphene onto a flexible substrate, followed by electrochemical delamination (bubble transfer) of the graphene. The transfer method investigated here does not require any intermediate transfer layer and allows the copper to be reused, which will reduce the production cost and avoid the generation of chemical waste. Such integration is one necessary step forward toward the economical and industrial scale production of graphene. Our method bares promise in various applications. As an example, we fabricated flexible solution-gated graphene field-effect-transistors, which exhibited transconductance as high as 200 μS.