A simple alcohol-chemical vapor deposition synthesis of single-layer graphenes using flash cooling

We report the synthesis of single-layer graphenes from ethanol using, what we call, "flash cooling" just after chemical vapor deposition. The single-layer graphenes synthesized are high-quality and several micrometers in grain size as revealed by Raman spectroscopy. Detailed comparison of the cooling processes suggests that the single-layer graphene growth does not occur during the carbon precipitation but rather stems from surface diffusions of carbon on a nickel substrate. Because of the present simple and easiness for the large-scale synthesis under an inert gas atmosphere and at atmospheric pressure, the present method can easily be applied for the future large-scale and low-cost graphene production. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3458797]