No abstract

Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) growth of graphene has attracted much attention, aiming at the mass production of large-area and high-quality specimens. To optimize the growth condition, CVD grown graphene is conventionally characterized after synthesis. Real-time observation during graphene growth enables us to understand the growth mechanism and control the growth more easily. Here we report the optical microscope observation of the CVD growth of graphene in real time by focusing the radiation emitted from the growing graphene, which we call 'radiation-mode optical microscopy'. We observe the growth and shrinkage of graphene in response to the switching on and off of the methane supply. Analysis of the growth feature reveals that the attachment and detachment of carbon precursors are the rate-determining factor in the CVD growth of graphene. We expect radiation-mode optical microscopy to be applicable to the other crystal growth at high temperatures in various atmospheres.

Nitrogen doping is expected to provide several intriguing properties to graphene. Nitrogen plasma treatment to defect-free and defective highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) samples causes doping of nitrogen atom into the graphene layer. Nitrogen atoms are initially doped at a graphitic site (inside the graphene) for the defect-free HOPG, while doping to a pyridinic or a pyrrolic site (edge of the graphene) is dominant for the defective HOPG. The work function of graphene correlates strongly with the site and amount of doped nitrogen. Nitrogen atoms doped at a graphitic site lower the work function, while nitrogen atoms at a pyridinic or a pyrrolic site increase the work function. Control of plasma treatment time and the amount of initial defect could change the work function of graphite from 4.3 eV to 5.4 eV, which would open a way to tailor the nature of graphene for various industrial applications.

Acceleration of photocarrier relaxation in graphene results in the enhancement of its properties for graphene-based ultrafast optical devices. The acceleration can be achieved by utilizing the relaxation paths outside the graphene to avoid bottlenecks in the graphene for photocarrier relaxation. In this study, we investigate photocarrier relaxation in epitaxial and transferred monolayer graphene on SiC with a buffer layer at room temperature by means of time-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. The photoluminescence decay at 0.7 eV in the epitaxial monolayer graphene is faster than that in the transferred monolayer graphene. On the basis of the three-temperature model calculation, it is found that the carrier–phonon interaction with phonons of the buffer layer for the epitaxial monolayer graphene is 3 times stronger than that for the transferred monolayer graphene. This study demonstrates that ultrafast photocarrier relaxation can be achieved in graphene by epitaxial growth.

Synthesis of nitrogen-doped graphene on Cu foils by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PE-CVD) and the growth mechanism of doped graphene were investigated. Nitrogen atoms are incorporated into the graphene lattice and most of them exist at a graphitic (quaternary) site. Plasma reaction facilitates the doping of nitrogen atoms even at a substrate temperature as high as 950 °C. Doped nitrogen atoms seem to distort the graphene lattice, which causes island-like growth rather than a layer-by-layer growth.