Graphene Growth on Ni(111) by Transformation of a Surface Carbide

Abstract

A novel growth mechanism of graphene on Ni(111) has been discovered that occurs at temperatures below 460 °C. At these conditions, a surface-confined nickel-carbide phase coexists with single layer graphene. The graphene grows by in-plane transformation of the carbide along a one-dimensional phase-boundary, which is distinctively different from known growth processes on other transition metals and on Ni above 460 °C, where carbon atoms attach to "free" edges of graphene islands.

Atomic and electronic structure of simple metal/graphene and complex metal/graphene/metal interfaces

“…Spinpolarized calculations were performed for Ni substrates. The local density approximation (LDA) 46 is frequently used to study graphene on metallic substrates 6,7,10,16,25 because it predicts graphene/metal interfacial geometries in closer agreement with experiment than generalized gradient approximation (GGA) 47 . It is well-known that both the over-binding by LDA, and under-binding by GGA, respectively result in shorter and longer bond lengths as compared to experiment.…”

“…In addition to controlling growth processes, metal-graphene interactions influence the electronic properties of graphene. For example, a strong interfacial binding between graphene and either Ni 6,8,9 or Ru 11,12 substrates opens up graphene's band gap 10,18 , whereas a weak interaction with Ir 15-17 , Pt 14 , or Cu 10,18-22 substrates preserves the electronic properties of freestanding graphene. Many proposed graphene devices contain metal/graphene electrical contacts or other metal/graphene heterostructures 1-3 .…”

“…graphene on top of metallic substrate, have already been investigated both theoretically 10,[23][24][25] and experimentally 6,9,14,15,20 . Khomyakov et al 10 systematically studied simple metal/graphene interfaces across a wide range of metallic substrates.…”

“…The modification of interfacial atomic and electronic properties upon intercalation by the metallic (Cu or Ni) adlayer was also investigated. This research has been performed to support experiments on the growth of graphene on Ni substrates 6,7,42 , where the atomic and electronic structure was characterized primarily by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Therefore, STM images were simulated and analyzed to find signatures of graphene/metal interfacial interactions thus aiding in interpretation of experimental STM images.…”

Flexible Supercapacitors – Development of Bendable Carbon Architectures

“…[55] Its unique structure and properties make graphene promising for a EDLC electrodes. [56] Although pure graphene sheets with high quality can be prepared by mechanical cleavage of graphite [57] or CVD method at high temperature, [58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76] these methods suffer from high cost, high temperature, substrate limitation, and extremely low yield. In addition, the surface of pristine graphene is so hydrophobic that pristine graphene tend to agglomerate in solvents, leading to the loss of excellent properties of monolayer graphene sheets.…”