Rapid synthesis of a continuous graphene film by chemical vapor deposition on Cu foil with the various morphological conditions modified by Ar plasma

We investigate the rapid synthesis (50 s growth) of a continuous graphene layer using the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) technique and its characteristics depending upon the different morphological conditions of Cu foil with a high coverage on a Cu (001) crystal plane. For synthesis of a continuous graphene layer on Cu(001) crystal planes, special morphological conditions are required to have uniform adsorption of the carbon species and nucleation of the graphene. Ar plasma treatment was useful to introduce a high density of surface kinks that could withstand a short period of annealing (5 min). On the Ar plasma treated Cu foil, the rapidly synthesized graphene showed the continuous nature of graphene with a high monolayer ratio (I2D/IG is 2.301). This was due to the highly dense nucleation of graphene with high surface energy, resulting in fast growth. Further, it was shown that a much shorter (3.5 min) pre-annealing process and extended graphene growth time (20 min) is not suitable for the graphene growth due to its effect of defectiveness and monolayer nature on the graphene. A continuous layer of graphene on the rough Cu foil was better for optical transmittance with reasonable electrical properties due to the high monolayer nature.

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