Abstract
Catalyst-free and scalable synthesis of graphene on various glass substrates at low temperatures is of paramount significance to numerous applications such as low-cost transparent electronics and state-of-the-art displays. However, systematic study within this promising research field has remained scarce thus far. Herein, we report the direct growth of graphene on various glasses using a low-temperature plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. Such a facile and scalable approach guarantees the growth of uniform, transfer-free graphene films on various glass substrates at a growth temperature range of 400–600 °C. The morphological, surface wetting, optical, and electrical properties of the obtained graphene can be tailored by controlling the growth parameters. Our uniform and high-quality graphene films directly integrated with low-cost, commonly used glasses show great potential in the fabrication of multi-functional electrodes for versatile applications in solar cells, transparent electronics, and smart windows.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Novoselov, K. S.; Fal’ko, V. I.; Colombo, L.; Gellert, P. R.; Schwab, M. G.; Kim, K. A roadmap for graphene. Nature 2012, 490, 192–200.
Novoselov, K. S.; Geim, A. K.; Morozov, S. V.; Jiang, D.; Katsnelson, M. I.; Grigorieva, I. V.; Dubonos, S. V.; Firsov, A. A. Two-dimensional gas of massless Dirac fermions in graphene. Nature 2005, 438, 197–200.
Novoselov, K. S.; Geim, A. K.; Morozov, S. V.; Jiang, D.; Zhang, Y.; Dubonos, S. V.; Grigorieva, I. V.; Firsov, A. A. Electric field effect in atomically thin carbon films. Science 2004, 306, 666–669.
Yan, K.; Fu, L.; Peng, H. L.; Liu, Z. F. Designed CVD growth of graphene via process engineering. Acc. Chem. Res. 2013, 46, 2263–2274.
Gao, L. B.; Ren, W. C.; Xu, H. L.; Jin, L.; Wang, Z. X.; Ma, T.; Ma, L.-P.; Zhang, Z. Y.; Fu, Q.; Peng, L.-M.; Bao, X. H.; Cheng, H.-M. Repeated growth and bubbling transfer of graphene with millimetre-size single-crystal grains using platinum. Nat. Commun. 2012, 3, 699.
Dai, B. Y.; Fu, L.; Zou, Z. Y.; Wang, M.; Xu, H. T.; Wang, S.; Liu, Z. F. Rational design of a binary metal alloy for chemical vapour deposition growth of uniform single-layer graphene. Nat. Commun. 2011, 2, 522.
Li, X. S.; Cai, W. W.; An, J. H.; Kim, S.; Nah, J.; Yang, D. X.; Piner, R.; Velamakanni, A.; Jung, I.; Tutuc, E.; Banerjee, S. K.; Colombo, L.; Ruoff, R. S. Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils. Science 2009, 324, 1312–1314.
Kim, K. S.; Zhao, Y.; Jang, H.; Lee, S. Y.; Kim, J. M.; Kim, K. S.; Ahn, J.-H.; Kim, P.; Choi, J.-Y.; Hong, B. H. Largescale pattern growth of graphene films for stretchable transparent electrodes. Nature 2009, 457, 706–710.
Tan, L. F.; Zeng, M. Q.; Wu, Q.; Chen, L. F.; Wang, J.; Zhang, T.; Eckert, J.; Rümmeli, M. H.; Fu, L. Direct growth of ultrafast transparent single-layer graphene defoggers. Small 2015, 11, 1840–1846.
Xu, S. C.; Man, B. Y.; Jiang, S. Z.; Yue, W. W.; Yang, C.; Liu, M.; Chen, C. S.; Zhang, C. Direct growth of graphene on quartz substrates for label-free detection of adenosine triphosphate. Nanotechnology 2014, 25, 165702.
Sun, J. Y.; Gao, T.; Song, X. J.; Zhao, Y. F.; Lin, Y. W.; Wang, H. C.; Ma, D. L.; Chen, Y. B.; Xiang, W. F.; Wang, J.; Zhang, Y. F.; Liu, Z. F. Direct growth of high-quality graphene on high-? dielectric SrTiO3 substrates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 6574–6577.
Chen, J. Y.; Guo, Y. L.; Jiang, L. L.; Xu, Z. P.; Huang, L. P.; Xue, Y. Z.; Geng, D. C.; Wu, B.; Hu, W. P.; Yu, G.; Liu, Y. Q. Near-equilibrium chemical vapor deposition of highquality single-crystal graphene directly on various dielectric substrates. Adv. Mater. 2014, 26, 1348–1353.
Wei, D. C.; Lu, Y. H.; Han, C.; Niu, T. C.; Chen, W.; Wee, A. T. S. Critical crystal growth of graphene on dielectric substrates at low temperature for electronic devices. Angew. Chem., Int. Edit. 2013, 52, 14121–14126.
Medina, H.; Lin, Y.-C.; Jin, C.; Lu, C.-C.; Yeh, C.-H.; Huang, K.-P.; Suenaga, K.; Robertson, J.; Chiu, P.-W. Metalfree growth of nanographene on silicon oxides for transparent conducting applications. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2012, 22, 2123–2128.
Zhang, L. C.; Shi, Z. W.; Wang, Y.; Yang, R.; Shi, D. X.; Zhang, G. Y. Catalyst-free growth of nanographene films on various substrates. Nano Res. 2011, 4, 315–321.
Hwang, J.; Kim, M.; Campbell, D.; Alsalman, H. A.; Kwak, J. Y.; Shivaraman, S.; Woll, A. R.; Singh, A. K.; Hennig, R. G.; Gorantla, S.; Rummeli, M. H.; Spencer, M. G. van der Waals epitaxial growth of graphene on sapphire by chemical vapor deposition without a metal catalyst. ACS Nano 2013, 7, 385–395.
Chen, J. Y.; Guo, Y. L.; Wen, Y. G.; Huang, L. P.; Xue, Y. Z.; Geng, D. C.; Wu, B.; Luo, B. R.; Yu, G.; Liu, Y. Q. Two-stage metal-catalyst-free growth of high-quality polycrystalline graphene films on silicon nitride substrates. Adv. Mater. 2013, 25, 992–997.
Song, H. J.; Son, M.; Park, C.; Lim, H.; Levendorf, M. P.; Tsen, A. W.; Park, J.; Choi, H. C. Large scale metal-free synthesis of graphene on sapphire and transfer-free device fabrication. Nanoscale 2012, 4, 3050–3054.
Bi, H.; Sun, S. R.; Huang, F. Q.; Xie, X. M.; Jiang, M. H. Direct growth of few-layer graphene films on SiO2 substrates and their photovoltaic applications. J. Mater. Chem. 2012, 22, 411–416.
Chen, J. Y.; Wen, Y. G.; Guo, Y. L.; Wu, B.; Huang, L. P.; Xue, Y. Z.; Geng, D. C.; Wang, D.; Yu, G.; Liu, Y. Q. Oxygen-aided synthesis of polycrystalline graphene on silicon dioxide substrates. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2011, 133, 17548–17551.
Bo, Z.; Yang, Y.; Chen, J. H.; Yu, K. H.; Yan, J. H.; Cen, K. F. Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition synthesis of vertically oriented graphene nanosheets. Nanoscale 2013, 5, 5180–5204.
Zhao, J.; He, C. L.; Yang, R.; Shi, Z. W.; Cheng, M.; Yang, W.; Xie, G. B.; Wang, D. M.; Shi, D. X.; Zhang, G. Y. Ultra-sensitive strain sensors based on piezoresistive nanographene films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2012, 101, 063112.
Yang, W.; He, C. L.; Zhang, L. C.; Wang, Y.; Shi, Z. W.; Cheng, M.; Xie, G. B.; Wang, D. M.; Yang, R.; Shi, D. X.; Zhang, G. Y. Growth, characterization, and properties of nanographene. Small 2012, 8, 1429–1435.
Zhao, J.; Wang, G. L.; Yang, R.; Lu, X. B.; Cheng, M.; He, C. L.; Xie, G. B.; Meng, J. L.; Shi, D. X.; Zhang, G. Y. Tunable piezoresistivity of nanographene films for strain sensing. Acs Nano 2015, 9, 1622–1629.
Yang, C. Y.; Bi, H.; Wan, D. Y.; Huang, F. Q.; Xie, X. M.; Jiang, M. H. Direct PECVD growth of vertically erected graphene walls on dielectric substrates as excellent multifunctional electrodes. J. Mater. Chem. A 2013, 1, 770–775.
Casiraghi, C.; Hartschuh, A.; Qian, H.; Piscanec, S.; Georgi, C.; Fasoli, A.; Novoselov, K. S.; Basko, D. M.; Ferrari, A. C. Raman spectroscopy of graphene edges. Nano Lett. 2009, 9, 1433–1441.
Kim, Y. S.; Joo, K.; Jerng, S.-K.; Lee, J. H.; Moon, D.; Kim, J.; Yoon, E.; Chun, S.-H. Direct integration of polycrystalline graphene into light emitting diodes by plasma-assisted metalcatalyst- free synthesis. Acs Nano 2014, 8, 2230–2236.
Mao, S.; Yu, K. H.; Chang, J. B.; Steeber, D. A.; Ocola, L. E.; Chen, J. H. Direct growth of vertically-oriented graphene for field-effect transistor biosensor. Sci. Rep. 2013, 3, 1696.
Takeuchi, W.; Ura, M.; Hiramatsu, M.; Tokuda, Y.; Kano, H.; Hori, M. Electrical conduction control of carbon nanowalls. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2008, 92, 213103.
Zhang, D. W.; Li, X. D.; Li, H. B.; Chen, S.; Sun, Z.; Yin, X. J.; Huang, S. M. Graphene-based counter electrode for dye-sensitized solar cells. Carbon 2011, 49, 5382–5388.
Zhu, M. Y.; Outlaw, R. A.; Bagge-Hansen, M.; Chen, H. J.; Manos, D. M. Enhanced field emission of vertically oriented carbon nanosheets synthesized by C2H2/H2 plasma enhanced CVD. Carbon 2011, 49, 2526–2531.
Wan, L.; Wang, S. M.; Wang, X. B.; Dong, B. H.; Xu, Z. X.; Zhang, X. H.; Yang, B.; Peng, S. M.; Wang, J. C.; Xu, C. H. Room-temperature fabrication of graphene films on variable substrates and its use as counter electrodes for dye-sensitized solar cells. Solid State Sci. 2011, 13, 468–475.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Sun, J., Chen, Y., Cai, X. et al. Direct low-temperature synthesis of graphene on various glasses by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition for versatile, cost-effective electrodes. Nano Res. 8, 3496–3504 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0849-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-015-0849-0