Controllable direct growth and patterning of graphene based transparent and conductive films on insulating substrates via Cu nanoparticles assisted-catalysis method

Abstract

To avoid the complex transfer progress of graphene with the traditional chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, we have developed a Cu nanoparticles (NPs) assisted-catalysis CVD process to directly deposit graphene on insulating substrates. It allows to controllably grow graphene by atmosphere pressure CVD according to regulating the distribution of Cu NPs. The fundamental growth conditions have been systematically investigated and the obtained graphene has preferable photoelectrical performance. Compared with a whole coated distribution of Cu NPs on the substrate, the transmittance of controllably deposited graphene significantly increases by 8.25% with decreased sheet resistance simultaneously. We further regulated the distribution of Cu NPs on the insulating substrate with a designed mask and directly prepared the patterned graphene with good achievement. This approach provides a facile and cost-effective way to directly prepare high-quality patterned graphene on target substrates and opens up a novel idea for fabricating various functional electronic devices.