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Published on: July 24, 2015
Oxidation-assisted graphene heteroepitaxy on copper foil
Nicolas Reckinger1, Xiaohui Tang2, Frédéric Joucken1
1Research Group on Carbon Nanostructures (CARBONNAGe), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium. nicolas.reckinger@unamur.be nicolas.reckinger@gmail.com and Department of Physics, Research Center in Physics of Matter and Radiation (PMR), University of Namur, Rue de Bruxelles 61, 5000 Namur, Belgium.
We developed a simple chemical vapor deposition method to grow large, high-quality single-crystalline graphene flakes on copper. This process uses oxygen and hydrogen to control copper grain growth and reduce graphene nucleation, enabling aligned millimeter-sized domains.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Surface Chemistry
Background:
- Synthesizing large-area, single-crystalline graphene is crucial for advanced electronic applications.
- Controlling graphene nucleation and growth on metal catalysts remains a significant challenge.
- Copper foil is a common substrate for graphene synthesis via chemical vapor deposition (CVD).
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an easy-to-implement method for synthesizing aligned, large-area single-crystalline graphene flakes.
- To leverage residual oxygen in chemical vapor deposition (CVD) to control copper grain growth and graphene nucleation.
- To achieve millimeter-sized monolayer graphene domains epitaxially aligned with the copper substrate.
Main Methods:
- Utilized chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper foil.
- Employed a dual-stage process involving initial copper surface oxidation followed by hydrogen reduction.
- Controlled copper grain boundary pinning and abnormal grain growth through the oxidation/reduction sequence.
- Reduced graphene nucleation density via surface oxidation.
Main Results:
- Achieved centimeter-sized copper (111) grains through abnormal grain growth.
- Synthesized aligned millimeter-sized monolayer graphene domains.
- Demonstrated epitaxial registry between graphene domains and the copper (111) substrate.
- Confirmed the single-crystalline nature and high quality of the as-grown graphene flakes.
Conclusions:
- The proposed oxidation/reduction method effectively controls copper recrystallization and graphene nucleation.
- This approach enables the scalable synthesis of high-quality, aligned single-crystalline graphene.
- The resulting graphene flakes are suitable for applications requiring precise structural control and high electronic performance.
