Universal Segregation Growth Approach to Wafer-Size Graphene from Non-Noble Metals

• Published in: Nano letters Vol. 11; no. 1; pp. 297 - 303
• Main Authors: Liu, Nan, Fu, Lei, Dai, Boya, Yan, Kai, Liu, Xun, Zhao, Ruiqi, Zhang, Yanfeng, Liu, Zhongfan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 12.01.2011
• Subjects: Condensed matter: structure, mechanical and thermal properties; Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Materials science; Physics; Specific materials; Thermal properties of condensed matter; Thermal properties of small particles, nanocrystals, nanotubes; non-noble metal films; segregation; batch production; Graphene; wafer-scale; Nickel alloys; Segregation; Carbon; Thermal properties; Metallic thin films; Thermal resistance; Copper alloys; Nonmetals; Wafers; Monolayers; Growth mechanism; Thermal annealing; Bilayers
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl103962a

Graphene has been attracting wide interests owing to its excellent electronic, thermal, and mechanical performances. Despite the availability of several production techniques, it is still a great challenge to achieve wafer-size graphene with acceptable uniformity and low cost, which would determine the future of graphene electronics. Here we report a universal segregation growth technique for batch production of high-quality wafer-scale graphene from non-noble metal films. Without any extraneous carbon sources, 4 in. graphene wafers have been obtained from Ni, Co, Cu−Ni alloy, and so forth via thermal annealing with over 82% being 1−3 layers and excellent reproducibility. We demonstrate the first example of monolayer and bilayer graphene wafers using Cu−Ni alloy by combining the distinct segregation behaviors of Cu and Ni. Together with the easy detachment from growth substrates, we believe this facile segregation technique will offer a great driving force for graphene research.