Germanium-Assisted Direct Growth of Graphene on Arbitrary Dielectric Substrates for Heating Devices

5 years ago

Germanium-Assisted Direct Growth of Graphene on Arbitrary Dielectric Substrates for Heating Devices

Zhongying Xue, Peng Zhou, Xiaoming Xie, Zengfeng Di, Ziwen Wang, Yongqiang Wang, Xi Wang, Paul K. Chu, Miao Zhang

Direct growth of graphene on dielectric substrates is a prerequisite to the development of graphene-based electronic and optoelectronic devices. However, the current graphene synthesis methods on dielectric substrates always involve a metal contamination problem, and the direct production of graphene patterns still remains unattainable and challenging. Herein, a semiconducting, germanium (Ge)-assisted, chemical vapor deposition approach is proposed to produce monolayer graphene directly on arbitrary dielectric substrates. By the prepatterning of a catalytic Ge layer, the graphene with desired pattern can be achieved conveniently and readily. Due to the catalysis of Ge, monolayer graphene is able to form on Ge-covered dielectric substrates including SiO2/Si, quartz glass, and sapphire substrates. Optimization of the process parameters leads to complete sublimation of the catalytic Ge layer during or immediately after formation of the monolayer graphene, enabling direct deposition of large-area and continuous graphene on dielectric substrates. The large-area, highly conductive graphene synthesized on a transparent dielectric substrate using the proposed approach has exhibited a wide range of applications, including in both defogger and thermochromic displays, as already successfully demonstrated here. A semiconducting, germanium-assisted, chemical vapor deposition approach is proposed for the direct growth of monolayer graphene on arbitrary dielectric substrates. By prepatterning the catalytic Ge layer, the graphene with desired pattern is achieved on dielectric substrates conveniently and readily. As a semiconductor-technology-compatible method, this approach will expedite the practical application of graphene in electronic and optoelectronic devices.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/smll.201700929