Graphene synthesis by thermal-CVD method

Developing a sustainable synthesis method to produce large-area, high-quality, uniform graphene films with controllable thickness is a challenge to many scientists and researchers around the world. Several reported graphene synthesis methods including exfoliation and cleavage, thermal chemical vapor deposition, thermal decomposition of SiC, un-zipping carbon nanotubes, epitaxial growth, and chemical methods have shown some success in producing graphene thin films. This paper uses a thermal-CVD method to successfully grow graphene films on nickel layer with methane as carbon source. The grain orientation and the heat treating process of nickel layer play an important role on the quality of the graphene films. The morphology of graphene films are characterized using AFM, SEM, XRD, and Raman spectroscopy.