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Nano Research 2016, 9(9): 2803-2810 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1169-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 20 July 2016

Impurity-induced formation of bilayered graphene on copper by chemical vapor deposition

Show Author's Information Jun Li1,2,  Jianing Zhuang3,  Chengmin Shen1,4( ),  Yuan Tian1,  Yande Que1,2,  Ruisong Ma1,2,  Jinbo Pan1,2,  Yanfang Zhang1,2,  Yeliang Wang1,4,  Shixuan Du1,4,  Feng Ding3( ),  Hong-Jun Gao1,4( )
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter PhysicsInstitute of PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China
University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100049China
Institute of Textiles and ClothingHong Kong Polytechnic UniversityKowloon, Hong KongChina
Beijing Key Laboratory for Nanomaterials and NanodevicesBeijing100190China
Keywords:
growth mechanism, graphene, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), bilayer
Cite this article:
Li J, Zhuang J, Shen C, et al. Impurity-induced formation of bilayered graphene on copper by chemical vapor deposition. Nano Research, 2016, 9(9): 2803-2810. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1169-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

High-quality single-layered and bilayered graphene (SLG and BLG) was synthesized on copper foil surfaces by controllable chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Impurity nanoparticles formed on the copper foil surface by hightemperature annealing were found to play a crucial role in the growth of BLG. Analysis of energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) data indicated that these nanoparticles consisted of silicon and aluminum. According to the inverted wedding cake model, these nanoparticles served as nucleation centers for BLG growth and the free space between a nanoparticle and graphene served as the center of C injection for the continuous growth of the adlayer beneath the top layer. By combining phase-field theory simulations, we confirmed the mechanism of BLG growth and revealed more details about it in comparison with SLG growth. For the first time, this study led to a complete understanding of the BLG growth mechanism from nucleation to continuous growth in the CVD process, and it has opened a door to the thickness-controllable synthesis of graphene.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Impurity-induced formation of bilayered graphene on copper by chemical vapor deposition

Show Author's information Jun Li1,2, Jianing Zhuang3, Chengmin Shen1,4( ), Yuan Tian1, Yande Que1,2, Ruisong Ma1,2, Jinbo Pan1,2, Yanfang Zhang1,2, Yeliang Wang1,4, Shixuan Du1,4, Feng Ding3( ), Hong-Jun Gao1,4( )
Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter PhysicsInstitute of PhysicsChinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100190China
University of Chinese Academy of SciencesBeijing100049China
Institute of Textiles and ClothingHong Kong Polytechnic UniversityKowloon, Hong KongChina
Beijing Key Laboratory for Nanomaterials and NanodevicesBeijing100190China

Abstract

High-quality single-layered and bilayered graphene (SLG and BLG) was synthesized on copper foil surfaces by controllable chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Impurity nanoparticles formed on the copper foil surface by hightemperature annealing were found to play a crucial role in the growth of BLG. Analysis of energy-dispersive spectrometry (EDS) data indicated that these nanoparticles consisted of silicon and aluminum. According to the inverted wedding cake model, these nanoparticles served as nucleation centers for BLG growth and the free space between a nanoparticle and graphene served as the center of C injection for the continuous growth of the adlayer beneath the top layer. By combining phase-field theory simulations, we confirmed the mechanism of BLG growth and revealed more details about it in comparison with SLG growth. For the first time, this study led to a complete understanding of the BLG growth mechanism from nucleation to continuous growth in the CVD process, and it has opened a door to the thickness-controllable synthesis of graphene.

Keywords: growth mechanism, graphene, chemical vapor deposition (CVD), bilayer

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Publication history
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Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 07 April 2016
Accepted: 02 June 2016
Published: 20 July 2016
Issue date: September 2016

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2016

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2013CBA01603), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61335006), and Chinese Academy of Sciences (Nos. 1731300500015 and XDB07030100).

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