The interphase in continuous SiC fiber-reinforced ceramic matrix composites is critical to their mechanical reliability, and graphene is a promising interphase material. However, the effect of substrate surface condition on graphene growth on SiC fibers remains unclear. Here, graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition on pristine SiC fibers and pre-oxidized SiO₂/SiC fibers is systematically compared. Experiments show that pristine SiC promotes early multi-point nucleation and an outward-propagating Stranski–Krastanov (SK)-like mode, whereas the pre-oxidized surface favors conformal layer-by-layer growth, leading to a smoother Frank–van der Merwe (FM)-like morphology. First-principles calculations reveal that SiC more strongly catalyzes carbon-source cracking and generates active carbon species, while SiO₂ is more favorable for carbon diffusion and conformal growth. In addition, graphene edges, steps, and curved regions tend to act as secondary nucleation sites, inducing disordered multilayer growth at later stages. These results provide guidance for tailoring graphene interphases on SiC fibers by surface pretreatment.

Aluminum nitride (AlN) powders show great potential for high-efficiency thermal management due to their high thermal conductivity and excellent electrical insulation. However, their practical thermal performance is often limited by interfacial thermal resistance and surface instability. Growing graphene on AlN powder surfaces is expected to simultaneously enhance interfacial heat transport and provide surface protection. The growth mechanism of graphene on micrometer-sized AlN powders remains unclear, which limits experimental control of synthesis. In this work, density functional theory is used to systematically study the formation and growth of graphene on AlN surfaces. Curvature energy analysis first shows that surface curvature no longer dominates the early growth of graphene in micrometer-sized powder systems. Based on this, the key reaction pathways and kinetic features under different carbon precursors are further revealed. The results show that: (i) Carbon precursors decompose both on the substrate surface and in the gas phase, supplying carbon active species for growth; (ii) The dominant nucleation species depends on the precursor, with C dominating in the C₂H₂ system and CH₂C dominating in the C₂H₄ system; (iii) During edge growth, CHCH is the dominant active species in both systems. The growth barrier along the armchair (AC) edge is much lower than that along the zigzag (ZZ) edge. This indicates that graphene growth exhibits a pronounced edge dependence. This work provides a mechanism of graphene growth on micrometer-sized aluminum nitride powders, providing theoretical guidance for its controlled preparation.

The direct growth of graphene via chemical vapour deposition on dielectric materials is a promising approach for transfer-free applications. However, large-scale production using this technique is hindered by the slow growth on non-catalytic substrates. In this study, the growth mechanism of graphene on glass fibre is theoretically explored, assuming α-SiO₂(001) as the model substrate. C₂/C₂H (from ethylene and acetylene) and C₃/C₃H (from propane) are identified as the active species driving the growth process. C₂H and C₃ are also key for nucleation because of their excellent migration capabilities. In hydrogen-passivated surface models, C₂H demonstrates a lower energy barrier for growth. Experimental results further indicate that acetylene, ethylene, and propane are promising carbon sources for graphene synthesis. These results are valuable for understanding the synthesis of graphene-skinned glass fibre fabrics, with the potential to improve graphene production on insulating substrates.

Direct growth of graphene on dielectric or insulating materials via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) offers a novel, transfer-free approach for various applications. However, challenges remain in growing graphene on non-catalytic substrates. In particular, the low growth rate of graphene remains a significant barrier to its large-scale production. In this study, propane (C₃H₈) was used as the carbon source to prepare graphene on commercial alumina fiber fabric (AFF) via CVD, resulting in the synthesis of a novel material: graphene-skinned alumina fiber fabric (GAFF). Through comparative analysis of the graphene growth behaviors using C₃H₈ and traditional carbon sources (CH₄ and C₂H₄) on AFF, the growth mechanism of C₃H₈ was elucidated. The pyrolysis of C₃H₈ generates the unique carbon species C₃H, which exhibits distinct advantages in terms of migration, nucleation, and growth on AFF. Graphene nucleation density using C₃H₈ was found to be 160 times higher than that of CH₄ and 50 times higher than C₂H₄. The resulting GAFF exhibits a wide tunable electrical conductivity range (1 to 7000 Ω·sq⁻¹), high tensile strength (> 170 MPa), lightweight properties, flexibility, and a hierarchical macrostructure. These characteristics make GAFF a promising candidate for various applications, including electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding.

Direct chemical vapor deposition (CVD) growth of graphene on dielectric/insulating materials promises transfer-free applications of graphene. However, growing graphene on non-catalytic substrates faces significant challenges, particularly due to its limited growth rate, restricting large-scale production and potential applications. Here, we develop graphene-skinned glass fiber fabric (GGFF) by growing graphene CVD on commercial glass fiber fabric (GFF). This study utilizes propane as a carbon source to prepare GGFF rapidly. The active carbon source (C₂H) derived from propane plays a significant role in facilitating the rapid growth of graphene films. It accelerated growth rates (~ 50 times faster), and reduced growth temperature (~ 100 °C lower) compared to the conventional carbon source methane. Additionally, propane consistently maintains a higher graphene growth rate than methane at equivalent growth temperatures. The lightweight flexibility, excellent thermal radiation properties, and energy efficiency of GGFF make it an outstanding material for infrared radiation drying.

Transition metal catalyzed chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is considered as the most promising approach to synthesize high-quality graphene films, and low-temperature growth of defect-free graphene films is long-term challenged because of the high energy barrier for precursor dissociation and graphitization. Reducing the growth temperature can also bring advantages on wrinkle-free graphene films owing to the minimized thermal expansion coefficient mismatch. This work focuses on density functional theory (DFT) calculations of the carbon source precursor with hydroxyl group, especially CH₃OH, on low-temperature CVD growth of graphene on Cu and CuNi substrate. We calculated all the possible cleavage paths for CH₃OH on transition metal substrates. The results show that, firstly, the cleavage barriers of CH₃OH on transition metal substrates are slightly lower than those of CH₄, and once CO appears, it is difficult to break the C–O bond. Secondly, the CO promotes a better formation and retention of perfect rings in the early stage of graphene nucleation and reduces the edge growth barriers. Thirdly, these deoxidation barriers of CO are reduced after CO participates in graphene edge growth. This paper provides a strategy for the low-temperature growth of wrinkles-free graphene on transition metal substrates using CH₃OH.