Low-temperature synthesis of thin graphite sheets using plasma-assisted thermal chemical vapor deposition system

We report the low-temperature synthesis of thin graphite sheets using a hybrid chemical vapor deposition (HCVD) system that combines plasma and thermal CVD (TCVD). Electron beam deposited Ni films were used as catalytic substrates, and methane was used as a carbon feedstock. The quartz tube was into two regions: core plasma region for efficient dissociation of methane and a TCVD region for thermal synthesis, respectively. After the syntheses at different TCVD temperatures from 550 °C to 900 °C, as-grown films were transferred to transparent polymeric substrates to apply as flexible conductive electrodes. Finally, it was found that thin graphite sheets consisting of ~ 15 graphene layers were synthesized at 600 °C using the HCVD system and could be applicable as transparent conductive films.