High Temperature Growth of Graphene from Cobalt Volume: Effect on Structural Properties

Several transition metals other than the largely used Cu and Ni can be, in principle, employed to catalyze carbon precursors for the chemical vapor deposition of graphene, because the thermodynamics of their alloying with carbon is well known. For example, the wealth of information in the Co-C phase diagram can be used to predict the properties of graphene grown in this way. It is, in fact, expected that growth occurs at a temperature higher than in Ni, with beneficial consequences to the mechanical and electronic properties of the final product. In this work, the growth of graphene onto Co film is presented together with an extensive Raman characterization of the structural properties of the material so far obtained. Previous results reporting the full coverage with negligible defective areas, in spite of discontinuities in the underlying metal, are confirmed, together with the occurrence of strain in the graphene sheet. Strain is deeply investigated in this work, in view of possible employment in engineering the material properties. The observed strain is ascribed to the high thermal mismatch with the substrate, even if an effect of the crystallographic transition of Co cannot be excluded.