Effects of Surface Engineering of Copper Catalyst on the CVD Growth of Boron-Doped Graphene with a Solid Carbon and Boron Source

Abstract

Chemical doping of boron atoms is essential to modify the electrical properties of graphene films. The synthesis of large-scale boron-doped graphene with high uniformity and good electrical properties is still a great challenge. To improve the quality and uniformity of boron-doped graphene, we introduced several methods to engineer the surface of the copper catalyst for chemical vapor deposition. The ethylic acid treatment proved to be more effective to remove surface impurities than the hydrochloric acid treatment. Moreover, electrochemical polishing showed the best performance in reducing the impurities and surface roughness in all the methods. The sheet resistance and carrier mobility of the boron-doped graphene film grown on the electropolished copper foil were 2.35 kΩ/□ and 1.15 × 103 cm2·V−1·s−1 at room temperature, respectively. Our results suggest that the boron-doped graphene grown on the electropolished copper catalyst possesses a high carrier mobility and less structural defects, which makes it suitable for application in optoelectronics.