Controlled Island Formation of Large-Area Graphene Sheets by Atmospheric Chemical Vapor Deposition: Role of Natural Camphor

Abstract

Camphor-based mono-/bilayer graphene (MLG) sheets have been synthesized by very facile atmospheric chemical vapor deposition processes on Si/SiO2, soda lime glass, and flexible polyethylene terephthalate films. The effect of camphor concentration with respect to distance between camphor and the Cu foil (D) has been varied to investigate the controlled formation of a homogeneous graphene sheet over a large area on Cu foil. Raman studies show a remarkable effect of camphor at a typical distance (D) to form a monolayer to multilayer graphene (MULG) sheet. The signature of MLG to MULG sheets appears due to increase in the number of nucleation sites, even over the subsequent domains that contribute stacks of graphene over each other as observed by high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images. Moreover, the increase in camphor concentration at a particular distance generates more defect states in graphene as denoted by D band at 1360 cm–1. Uniform distribution of large-area MLG demonstrates an intense 2D/G ratio of ∼2.3. Electrical and optical measurements show a sheet resistance of ∼1 kΩ/sq with a maximum transmittance of ∼88% at 550 nm for low camphor concentration. An improvement in the rectification and photodiode behavior is observed from the diodes fabricated on n-Si/MULG as compared to n-Si/MLG in dark and light conditions.