Simultaneous etching and transfer — Free multilayer graphene sheets derived from C60 thin films

Abstract

Despite the advantage of chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for realization of large area epitaxial growth of graphene on transition metal catalysts, both etching and transfer process of CVD-grown graphene sheets still remain a big challenge. Here we demonstrate the formation of multilayer graphene (MLG) sheets tailored from C60 thin films on the top of Si/Ni substrate without etching and transfer steps based on Ni films. This self-assembled process separates the MLG sheets from the conductive Ni catalyst, embarking a possibility for direct characterizations of MLG sheets. The fine-tuned C60 films (30nm) are transformed into approximately 17 MLG sheets, thus making it large-area MLG sheets for a variety of direct applications.