A mechanism for carbon nanosheet formation

The growth, structure and properties of a two-dimensional carbon nanostructure–carbon nanosheet produced by radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition have been investigated. The effects of deposition parameters on the structure and properties of carbon nanosheets were also investigated. A growth model has been described proposing that atomically thin graphene sheets result from a balance between deposition through surface diffusion and etching by atomic hydrogen, and that the observed vertical orientation of these sheets results from the interaction of the plasma electric field with their anisotropic polarizability.