High quality graphene grown on single-crystal Mo(110) thin films

In this paper, the synthesis of high quality graphene on single-crystal Mo(110) films by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of methane was reported for the first time. X-ray diffraction proves that carbon species had dissolved into the metal. The micro-Raman spectroscopy indicates that the thickness of Mo films, cooling rate and growing time play significant roles in the quality of as-grown graphene films. By optimizing the growth time (15 min) and cooling rate (10 °C/s), we achieved high quality graphene films with the small ratio IG/I2D≈0.26 and the FWHM(2D)≈30.4 cm−1 on 200 nm-thick Mo films. Our experiments also suggest that graphene growth on Mo is a dissolution and segregation process as Ni.

► We firstly report the direct synthesis of high-quality graphene on single-crystal Mo(110) film using a CVD method.
► Proper grown time can reduce D-band of the graphene.
► Cooling rate and thickness of Mo films could have effects on the number of graphene layers.
► We prove that the growth is governed by the dissolution and segregation mechanism.