Transfer Methods of Graphene from Metal Substrates: A Review

Abstract

Graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal substrates has attracted tremendous attention due to its high growth‐quality, scalability, and high structural tunability, which holds great promise in a wide range of applications. In most cases, CVD graphene on metals must be transferred to target substrates and the intact/clean and efficient transfer of large‐area graphene remains challenging, thus greatly hindering the practical applications of CVD‐grown graphene in high‐performance devices. Here, the representative methods of transferring CVD graphene are discussed from the perspective of their impacts on the structural integrity and contamination of graphene as well as their scalability. Particularly, the principles, advantages, and limitations are highlighted in various methods.

Semi-transparent graphite films growth on Ni and their double-sided polymer-free transfer

“…These films transfer includes two main approaches 35 : (1) etch-free transfer 36 , 37 , (2) etching-based (support assisted) wet-chemical transfer 14 , 34 , 38 . Each approach has some advantages and disadvantages, and they need to be selected based on the target application, as discussed elsewhere 35 , 39 . For the graphene/graphite thin films grown on catalytic substrates, the transfer via a wet-chemical process (where poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) is the most popular support layer used) remains the preferred option 13 , 30 , 34 , 38 , 40 – 42 .…”

“…CVD-grown graphene and graphite thin films often require transferring onto a functional substrate 34 . These films transfer includes two main approaches 35 : (1) etch-free transfer 36,37 , (2) etching-based (support assisted) wet-chemical transfer 14,34,38 . Each approach has some advantages and disadvantages, and they need to be selected based on the target application, as discussed elsewhere 35,39 .…”

Emerging Light‐Emitting Materials for Photonic Integration

“…Until now, the transfer challenge still bothers the graphene researchers, despite many studies have devoted to it. [ 150 ] Large‐scale hBN can also be prepared on copper substrates via the CVD growth, but it meets similar transfer issues mentioned in graphene. [ 151 ] Besides the copper foils, nickel foils are also commonly used substrates for the synthesis of graphene and hBN, but the as‐grown materials by using nickel foils are usually multilayer and not uniform.…”

Controllable synthesis of graphene by CVD method

“…但以上转移过程中都难 以避免裂纹、褶皱、PMMA残胶以及残留金属颗粒等 问题, 会对石墨烯本征器件性能产生不利影响. 对此, 有研究尝试采用强氧化性溶液来处理转移后的样品以 消除难溶有机物的污染, 继而尝试用一系列聚合物来 替代PMMA作为转移的支承层, 如聚二甲基硅氧烷、 聚碳酸酯、环氧基树脂、紫外环氧基树脂以及石蜡 等 [126] . 有机小分子介质松香, 因其与石墨烯的相互作 用弱, 溶解性好, 作为转移支撑层支撑强度适宜, 也被 证实可以用来实现石墨烯超清洁和无损伤的转移 [127] .…”