Introducing Carbon Diffusion Barriers for Uniform, High-Quality Graphene Growth from Solid Sources

• DOI: 10.1021/nl401601x
• Publication Date: 2013-09-11T16:00:56Z
• Authors: Robert S. Weatherup; Carsten Baehtz; Bruno Dlubak; Bernhard C. Bayer; Piran R. Kidambi; Raoul Blume; Robert Schloegl; Stephan Hofmann
• Keywords: Carbon fibers; Amorphous carbon

Carbon diffusion barriers are introduced as a general and simple method to prevent premature carbon dissolution thereby significantly improve graphene formation from the catalytic transformation of solid sources. A thin Al2O3 barrier inserted into an amorphous-C/Ni bilayer stack is demonstrated enable growth uniform monolayer at 600 °C with domain sizes exceeding 50 μm, average Raman D/G ratio <0.07. detailed rationale established via in situ measurements, relevant solid-state wide range layered materials, well layer-by-layer control these systems.