Direct Observation of Grain Boundaries in Graphene Through Vapor Hydrofluoric Acid (VHF) Exposure

Overview

Journal Sci Adv

Specialties Biology
Science

Date 2018 May 29

PMID 29806026

Citations 6

Authors

Xuge Fan

Stefan Wagner

Philip Schadlich

Florian Speck

Satender Kataria

Tommy Haraldsson

Thomas Seyller

Max C Lemme

Frank Niklaus

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The shape and density of grain boundary defects in graphene strongly influence its electrical, mechanical, and chemical properties. However, it is difficult and elaborate to gain information about the large-area distribution of grain boundary defects in graphene. An approach is presented that allows fast visualization of the large-area distribution of grain boundary-based line defects in chemical vapor deposition graphene after transferring graphene from the original copper substrate to a silicon dioxide surface. The approach is based on exposing graphene to vapor hydrofluoric acid (VHF), causing partial etching of the silicon dioxide underneath the graphene as VHF diffuses through graphene defects. The defects can then be identified using optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, or Raman spectroscopy. The methodology enables simple evaluation of the grain sizes in polycrystalline graphene and can therefore be a valuable procedure for optimizing graphene synthesis processes.

Citing Articles

Chemical etching of silicon assisted by graphene oxide under negative electric bias.

Goto Y, Utsunomiya T, Ichii T, Sugimura H Nanoscale Adv. 2025; 7(6):1596-1602.

PMID: 39882507 PMC: 11774252. DOI: 10.1039/d4na00825a.

Graphene MEMS and NEMS.

Fan X, He C, Ding J, Gao Q, Ma H, Lemme M Microsyst Nanoeng. 2024; 10(1):154.

PMID: 39468030 PMC: 11519522. DOI: 10.1038/s41378-024-00791-5.

Selective-Area, Water-Free Atomic Layer Deposition of Metal Oxides on Graphene Defects.

Mazza M, Caban-Acevedo M, Fu H, Meier M, Thompson A, Ifkovits Z ACS Mater Au. 2023; 2(2):74-78.

PMID: 36855765 PMC: 9888651. DOI: 10.1021/acsmaterialsau.1c00049.

Sensitive Transfer-Free Wafer-Scale Graphene Microphones.

Pezone R, Baglioni G, Sarro P, Steeneken P, Vollebregt S ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2022; 14(18):21705-21712.

PMID: 35475352 PMC: 9100512. DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c03305.

Ultimate Spin Currents in Commercial Chemical Vapor Deposited Graphene.

Panda J, Ramu M, Karis O, Sarkar T, Kamalakar M ACS Nano. 2020; 14(10):12771-12780.

PMID: 32945650 PMC: 7596785. DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.0c03376.

References

Lee T, Masud F, Kim M, Rho H . Spatially resolved Raman spectroscopy of defects, strains, and strain fluctuations in domain structures of monolayer graphene. Sci Rep. 2017; 7(1):16681. PMC: 5709432. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-16969-z. View

Stolyarova E, Stolyarov D, Bolotin K, Ryu S, Liu L, Rim K . Observation of graphene bubbles and effective mass transport under graphene films. Nano Lett. 2008; 9(1):332-7. DOI: 10.1021/nl803087x. View

Lee C, Wei X, Kysar J, Hone J . Measurement of the elastic properties and intrinsic strength of monolayer graphene. Science. 2008; 321(5887):385-8. DOI: 10.1126/science.1157996. View

Reina A, Jia X, Ho J, Nezich D, Son H, Bulovic V . Large area, few-layer graphene films on arbitrary substrates by chemical vapor deposition. Nano Lett. 2008; 9(1):30-5. DOI: 10.1021/nl801827v. View

Duong D, Han G, Lee S, Gunes F, Kim E, Kim S . Probing graphene grain boundaries with optical microscopy. Nature. 2012; 490(7419):235-9. DOI: 10.1038/nature11562. View

Li X, Cai W, An J, Kim S, Nah J, Yang D . Large-area synthesis of high-quality and uniform graphene films on copper foils. Science. 2009; 324(5932):1312-4. DOI: 10.1126/science.1171245. View

Kim K, Artyukhov V, Regan W, Liu Y, Crommie M, Yakobson B . Ripping graphene: preferred directions. Nano Lett. 2011; 12(1):293-7. DOI: 10.1021/nl203547z. View

Novak M, Surwade S, Prokop J, Bolotin K, Hone J, Brus L . Visualizing individual carbon nanotubes with optical microscopy. J Am Chem Soc. 2014; 136(24):8536-9. DOI: 10.1021/ja503821s. View

Banszerus L, Schmitz M, Engels S, Dauber J, Oellers M, Haupt F . Ultrahigh-mobility graphene devices from chemical vapor deposition on reusable copper. Sci Adv. 2015; 1(6):e1500222. PMC: 4646786. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1500222. View

10.

Li X, Zhu Y, Cai W, Borysiak M, Han B, Chen D . Transfer of large-area graphene films for high-performance transparent conductive electrodes. Nano Lett. 2009; 9(12):4359-63. DOI: 10.1021/nl902623y. View

11.

Kim K, Lee H, Johnson R, Tanskanen J, Liu N, Kim M . Selective metal deposition at graphene line defects by atomic layer deposition. Nat Commun. 2014; 5:4781. DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5781. View

12.

Yu Q, Jauregui L, Wu W, Colby R, Tian J, Su Z . Control and characterization of individual grains and grain boundaries in graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition. Nat Mater. 2011; 10(6):443-9. DOI: 10.1038/nmat3010. View

13.

Sutter P, Flege J, Sutter E . Epitaxial graphene on ruthenium. Nat Mater. 2008; 7(5):406-11. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2166. View

14.

Yazyev O, Louie S . Electronic transport in polycrystalline graphene. Nat Mater. 2010; 9(10):806-9. DOI: 10.1038/nmat2830. View

15.

Bae S, Kim H, Lee Y, Xu X, Park J, Zheng Y . Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes. Nat Nanotechnol. 2010; 5(8):574-8. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2010.132. View

16.

Banhart F, Kotakoski J, Krasheninnikov A . Structural defects in graphene. ACS Nano. 2010; 5(1):26-41. DOI: 10.1021/nn102598m. View

17.

Ahmad M, An H, Kim Y, Lee J, Jung J, Chun S . Nanoscale investigation of charge transport at the grain boundaries and wrinkles in graphene film. Nanotechnology. 2012; 23(28):285705. DOI: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/28/285705. View

18.

Balandin A, Ghosh S, Bao W, Calizo I, Teweldebrhan D, Miao F . Superior thermal conductivity of single-layer graphene. Nano Lett. 2008; 8(3):902-7. DOI: 10.1021/nl0731872. View

19.

Kim D, Kim Y, Jeong H, Jung H . Direct visualization of large-area graphene domains and boundaries by optical birefringency. Nat Nanotechnol. 2011; 7(1):29-34. DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2011.198. View

20.

Lee G, Cooper R, An S, Lee S, van der Zande A, Petrone N . High-strength chemical-vapor-deposited graphene and grain boundaries. Science. 2013; 340(6136):1073-6. DOI: 10.1126/science.1235126. View