Rapid thermal annealing of nickel-carbon nanowires for graphene nanoribbons formation

In this paper, we present a novel method for graphene nanoribbons formation using nickel nanowires as templates. Modification of electrochemical procedure for nickel nanowires synthesis was introduced by implementing graphene quantum dots as a carbon source. Thus, nickel nanowires with graphene quantum dots were prepared. These wires were exposed to rapid thermal annealing at high temperatures (500 °C, 700 °C and 800 °C). During this process carbon atoms dissolve in metal and precipitate to the nickel surface forming nickel-carbon nanowires. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were characterization methods used for analysis of changes in nickel-carbon nanowires properties depending on the different annealing temperatures. After etching nickel with nitric acid, graphene nanoribbons with average diameters of 32 nm and average lengths of 4 μm were obtained.