Synthesis of thiolated few-layered graphene by thermal chemical vapor deposition using solid precursor

• Thiolated few-layered graphenes synthesized by thermal chemical vapor deposition.
• Thiocamphor was used as both the carbon and sulfur sources.
• The obtained thiolated graphenes were characterized by Raman, TEM and XPS.

We synthesized thiolated few-layered graphene (FLG) on a Cu substrate by thermal chemical vapor deposition using thiocamphor as the solid precursor of both the carbon and sulfur. The Raman mapping results and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) images identified the numbers of layers and the morphology of the thiolated graphene sheets. The growth of few-layered including mono- and bi-layered thiolated graphene was verified by Raman mapping. TEM observation confirmed formation of bi- and nine-layers of thiolated graphene. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) revealed that the synthesized graphene was terminated with thiol group. The concentration of sulfur atoms in the thiolated FLG sample synthesized from thiocamphor was evaluated to be 7.69% by XPS. The environmental stability of the thiolated FLG was also investigated by performing XPS on the samples after several days. The S2p peak was not detectable after 30 days.