Growth of graphene films on Cu catalyst in hydrogen plasma using polymethylmethacrylate as carbon source

•Synthesis of graphene films in hydrogen plasma.•Preparation of graphene by converting PMMA solid carbon source.•The graphene growth mechanism was proposed.

Owing to its excellent electronic characteristics and wide spectrum of potential applications, graphene has attracted intense attention by not only scientists but also engineers. Growth of graphene films on copper foils using gaseous carbon sources has been emphasized previously due to the high quality/price ratio. In this study, we reported the synthesis of graphene films on copper substrate converting from a solid carbon source (polymethylmethacrylate) with help of hydrogen plasma. The effects of substrate temperature and microwave power on the growth of graphene have been investigated. Raman spectroscopic data indicated that high microwave power and substrate temperature would benefit the growth of high quality graphene films. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic results implied that the synthesized graphene films were in high purity with small amount of oxygen contaminations. Transmission electron microscopy data suggested that the synthesized graphene films are polycrystalline and its atomic arrangement is in short-range order.

Graphical abstractSynthesis of graphene films on Cu foil by converting PMMA in hydrogen plasma.Figure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload high-quality image (327 K)Download as PowerPoint slide