CVD synthesis of graphene

Abstract

The research into the subject of graphene has soared over the past few years. Due to the exceptional nature of some of its properties, it has become ever popular in the field of nanotechnology. The use of graphene for various electronics applications have been displayed using graphene that can be exfoliated or grown via several techniques. However, the scalability of these methods do not allow for bulk synthesis, known in the case of other graphitic nanomaterials like fullerenes and carbon nanotubes. For realistic applications, graphene has to be made in large quantities at a reasonable cost for use in, for example, solar cells, FETs, chemical sensors and engineering composites.
Here successful attempts have been made to synthesise few layer graphene via bulk methodologies commonly used in the manufacture of carbon nanotubes, using relatively inexpensive precursor materials. Spray pyrolysis, a simple and scalable technique for the manufacture of few layer graphene using ethanol and various sodium precursors was demonstrated, which showed polymer composite, electronic device and transparent thin film application.
Few layer graphene was grown using a bimetallic catalyst of sodium and cobalt. Addition of the sodium caused a visual decrease in the amount of carbon deposited from ethanol chemical vapour deposition. The product when observed using the scanning and transmission electron microscope was shown to be made up of turbostatic few layer graphene platelets.
Growth of single and few layer graphene was demonstrated using copper nanoribbons and cobalt nanosheets as catalyst templates. These when incorporated onto inert support material, produced single and few layer graphene in a process that is deemed scalable and compatible with present industrial CVD reactors used for making carbon nanotubes.