The Role of Superficial Graphene in Electroforming Process

Abstract

Electroforming is a specialized process in electrochemical fabrication of metal parts. Electroplating is typically concerned with coating a metallic layer to provide some functionality and/or protect the surface of article. On the other hands, the electroforming purposes on the metallic structures which are created on a cathode mandrel or template by electroplating process.[1] Precision manufacturing including three-dimensional structures and microstructures is possible by a high degree of control in electroforming. One of the most important steps in the electroforming process is the separation of a fabricated deposit from the template without deformation or damage, which strongly depends on the interfacial properties between the deposit and template. Graphene composed of a layer of sp2-bonded carbon atoms has a high electrical conductivity and a low surface energy due to a lack of dangling bonds on the surface.[2] In this study, we demonstrated that graphene layer is a good superficial layer for electroforming process. Mono-layered or multi-layered graphene were synthesized on Cu or Ni foils using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The graphene was fully covered the surface of metal foils which used templates for electroforming. During electrochemical deposition, the graphene completely prevented strong bonding between the metal ions in electrolyte and metal atoms on the foils. The adhesion between an electroplated metal and graphene is much less than that between graphene and the metal foil that was used for CVD. The difference in adhesive force enables effective delamination of the deposited metal. The surface morphology of the deposited metal layer was similar to the graphene/metal foil template. In addition, we also confirmed that the technique could be utilized to fabricate various microstructures as well as flexible electronics. [1] J. A. MacGeough, M. C. Leu, K. P. Rajurkar, A. K. M. De Silva and Q. Liu, CIRP Ann.-Manuf. Technol., 2001, 50, 499–514. [2] J. Rafiee, X. Mi, H. Gullapalli, A. V. Thomas, F. Yavari, Y. F. Shi, P. M. Ajayan and N. A. Koratkar, Nat. Mater., 2012, 11, 217–222.