Parametric Investigation of the Isothermal Kinetics of Growth of Graphene on a Nickel Catalyst in the Process of Chemical Vapor Deposition of Hydrocarbons

Abstract

A kinetic model of isothermal synthesis of multilayer graphene on the surface of a nickel foil in the process of chemical vapor deposition, on it, of hydrocarbons supplied in the pulsed regime is considered. The dependences of the number of graphene layers formed and the time of their growth on the temperature of the process, the concentration of acetylene, and the thickness of the nickel foil were calculated. The regime parameters of the process of chemical vapor deposition, at which single-layer graphene and bi-layer graphene are formed, were determined. The dynamics of growth of graphene domains at chemical-vapor-deposition parameters changing in wide ranges was investigated. It is shown that the time dependences of the rates of growth of single-layer graphene and bi-layer graphene are nonlinear in character and that they are determined by the kinetics of nucleation and growth of graphene and the diffusion flow of carbon atoms in the nickel foil.