Direct APCVD Growth of Green Graphene on SiO₂ via Copper Foil Wrapping Method

Hsin-Hsin Chang^1*, Ping-Yu Chiang¹, Chi Chen², Wu-Yih Uen¹, Dung-Sheng Tsai¹

¹Department of Electronic Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City 32023, Taiwan
²2Research Center for Applied Science, Academia Sinica, Taipei 11529, Taiwan

* Presenter:Hsin-Hsin Chang, email:candy911722@gmail.com

Abstract
Large-scale graphene grown on transition metals (copper or nickel) by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is the most widely known. However, the graphene film must be transferred to the target substrates before being applied to electronic devices, inducing unnecessary defects, regional cracks, and organic solvent residues during the transfer and etching processes [1]. Furthermore, the purified methane (CH₄), a climate killer gas, is the most common carbon source of CVD graphene, causing dramatic climate damage (~85 times more harmful to the climate than CO₂) [2].
This research focuses on the development of new transfer-free synthesis of green graphene films. The SiO₂ substrate is simply wrapped with a copper foil, and then placed in an atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD) system for graphene synthesis, which will avoid the complex transfer steps and reduce the cost of graphene production. Moreover, pure natural camphor (with environmentally friendly characteristics) will be used to replace the climate killer gas methane (CH₄) as the carbon source for synthesizing graphene. Before growing graphene, the hydrophilicity of SiO₂ substrates will be evaluated first by contact angle measurements. After CVD processes, the graphene will be analyzed by Raman spectrum and Hall measurement for optimizing the growth parameters.
These results demonstrate an easy way to grow green graphene directly on insulator substrates, opening up new possibilities for the commercial applications of eco-friendly graphene.

References

[1] D.-S. Tsai, P.-Y. Chiang, M.-L. Tsai, W.-C. Tu, C. Chen, S.-L. Chen, C.-H. Chiu, C.-Y. Li, W.-Y. Uen, “Camphor-Based CVD Bilayer Graphene/Si Heterostructures for Self-Powered and Broadband Photodetection,” Micromachines 11(9), 812 (2020).

[2] G. Yvon-Durocher, A. P. Allen, D. Bastviken, R. Conrad, C. Gudasz, A. St-Pierre, N. Thanh-Duc, P. A. del Giorgio, “Methane fluxes show consistent temperature dependence across microbial to ecosystem scales,” Nature 507, 488-491(2014).

Keywords: Green Graphene, Transfer-Free Graphene, Copper Foil Wrapping Method, Camphor, APCVD