REACTOR AND SYSTEM FOR FABRICATION OF FREE-STANDING TWO-DIMENSIONAL NANOSTRUCTURES USING PLASMA TECHNOLOGY

摘要

The present invention relates to a process, reactor and system to produce self-standing two-dimensional nanostructures, using a microwave-excited plasma environment. The process is based on injecting, into a reactor, a mixture (9) of gases and precursors in stream regime. The stream is subjected to a surface wave (5) electric field, excited by the use of microwave power (7) which is introduced into a field applicator (6), generating high energy density plasmas (2,3,4), that break the precursors into its atomic and/or molecular constituents. The system comprises a plasma reactor with a surface wave launching zone, a transient zone with a progressively increasing cross-sectional area, and a nucleation zone. The plasma reactor together with an infrared radiation source (11) provides a controlled adjustment of the spatial gradients, of the temperature and the gas stream velocity. The majority of the obtained two-dimensional nanostructures samples have a thickness of a single atomic layer, in addition the process and system allow to obtain graphene production rates of the order of one gram per hour and higher.