Metal-catalyzed crystallization of amorphous carbon to graphene

摘要

Metal-catalyzed crystallization of amorphous carbon to graphene by thermal annealing isndemonstrated. In this “limited source” process scheme, the thickness of the precipitated graphene isndirectly controlled by the thickness of the initial amorphous carbon layer. This is in contrast tonchemical vapor deposition processes, where the carbon source is virtually unlimited and controllingnthe number of graphene layers depends on the tight control over a number of deposition parameters.nBased on the Raman analysis, the quality of graphene is comparable to other synthesis methodsnfound in the literature, such as chemical vapor deposition. The ability to synthesize graphene sheetsnwith tunable thickness over large areas presents an important progress toward their eventualnintegration for various technological applications.