Dendritic graphene domains: Growth, morphology and oxidation promotion

•Monolayer and well-crystallized dendritic graphene domains were synthesized under controlled CVD conditions.•The different morphologies of graphene domains on two copper surfaces were investigated.•Square-shaped graphene domains were obtained when the pre-annealing time was reduced.•The oxidization of copper surface was promoted by the covered dendritic graphene domains.

The morphology of graphene domains is very sensitive to growth conditions in the chemical vapor deposition process. Here, we demonstrate the growth of well-crystallized monolayer dendritic graphene domains with size up to 100-micron under controlled conditions. The dendritic graphene domains appear only on the copper surface closer to the quartz tube, while graphene on the opposite copper surface is of traditional fractal shape. By reducing the pre-annealing time of copper, we obtained square-shaped graphene domains. And it is unexpected that some dendritic graphene domains promoted the oxidation of the underlying copper after being kept at atmospheric conditions for a long term, which is in sharp contrast to the anti-oxidation property of graphene during the short annealing process as previously reported.