Abstract
The composite of graphene and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can increase the electrical conductivity and the electrochemical active sites in favor of the application in energy storage and conversion. However, the fabrication of graphene/CNT hybrid material requires multiple steps to introduce two kinds of catalysts for separate growth of graphene and CNTs. Here, we report a one-step process to in situ grow a seamless graphene/CNT heterojunction using a single catalyst of copper foil. Through precise tuning of the evaporation temperature of ethanol, creation of a method for seamlessly bonding CNTs on the graphene surface without assistance of metal particles has been realized. A study of the growth mechanism shows that the self-limited surface reaction of copper foil leads to many defects in multilayer graphene films, which provides the nucleation sites for the seamless growth of CNTs. The as-grown graphene/CNT heterojunctions have a higher electrical conductivity than the single graphene film, and its optical transmittance is almost equal to that of graphene film.
Highlights
Graphene, a multifunctional carbon material with one-atomthickness, exhibits great performance for applications in nanoelectronic devices, sensors, and energy conversion as a result of its unique physical properties.1–4 the absence of bandgap in intrinsic graphene increases the difficulty of its application in switching devices
The arrangement of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) was disordered and maintained in horizontal orientation, we still observed from the magnified scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image [Fig. 1(c)] that the CNTs stemmed from the graphene film without other catalyst particles
It is well known that monolayer graphene is grown on a copper surface by chemical vapor deposition (CVD), but the CNT clusters were simultaneously obtained on the graphene surface in our experiments
Summary
A multifunctional carbon material with one-atomthickness, exhibits great performance for applications in nanoelectronic devices, sensors, and energy conversion as a result of its unique physical properties.1–4 the absence of bandgap in intrinsic graphene increases the difficulty of its application in switching devices. We develop a one-step CVD process to grow seamless graphene/CNT heterojunctions on a copper surface without assistance of other additional catalyst particles.
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