Carbide-Forming Groups IVB-VIB Metals: A New Territory in the Periodic Table for CVD Growth of Graphene

• Published in: Nano letters 2014-07, Vol.14 (7), p.3832-3839
• Main Authors: Zou, Zhiyu, Fu, Lei, Song, Xiuju, Zhang, Yanfeng, Liu, Zhongfan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Carbides; Carbon; Catalysis; Catalysts; Catalytic methods; Chemical vapor deposition; Chemical vapor deposition (including plasma-enhanced cvd, mocvd, etc.); Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science; rheology; Exact sciences and technology; Fullerenes and related materials; diamonds, graphite; Graphene; Materials science; Methods of deposition of films and coatings; film growth and epitaxy; Methods of nanofabrication; Periodic table; Physics; Specific materials; Transition metals
• ISSN: 1530-6984; 1530-6992
• DOI: 10.1021/nl500994m

Early transition metals, especially groups IVB-VIB metals, can form stable carbides, which are known to exhibit excellent “noble-metal-like” catalytic activities. We demonstrate herein the applications of groups IVB-VIB metals in graphene growth using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition technique. Similar to the extensively studied Cu, Ni, and noble metals, these transition-metal foils facilitate the catalytic growth of single- to few-layer graphene. The most attractive advantage over the existing catalysts is their perfect control of layer thickness and uniformity with highly flexible experimental conditions by in situ converting the dissolved carbons into stable carbides to fully suppress the upward segregation/precipitation effect. The growth performance of graphene on these transition metals can be well explained by the periodic physicochemical properties of elements. Our work has disclosed a new territory of catalysts in the periodic table for graphene growth and is expected to trigger more interest in graphene research.