Graphene has attracted significant interest both for exploring fundamental science and for a wide range of technological applications. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is currently the only working approach to grow graphene at wafer scale, which is required for industrial applications. Unfortunately, CVD graphene is intrinsically polycrystalline, with pristine graphene grains stitched together by disordered grain boundaries, which can be either a blessing or a curse. On the one hand, grain boundaries are expected to degrade the electrical and mechanical properties of polycrystalline graphene, rendering the material undesirable for many applications. On the other hand, they exhibit an increased chemical reactivity, suggesting their potential application to sensing or as templates for synthesis of one-dimensional materials. Therefore, it is important to gain a deeper understanding of the structure and properties of graphene grain boundaries. Here, we review experimental progress on identification and electrical and chemical characterization of graphene grain boundaries. We use numerical simulations and transport measurements to demonstrate that electrical properties and chemical modification of graphene grain boundaries are strongly correlated. This not only provides guidelines for the improvement of graphene devices, but also opens a new research area of engineering graphene grain boundaries for highly sensitive electrobiochemical devices.
The exceptional properties of the two-dimensional material graphene make it attractive for multiple functional applications, whose large-area samples are typically polycrystalline. Here, we study the mechanical properties of graphene in computer simulations and connect these to the experimentally relevant mechanical properties. In particular, we study the fluctuations in the lateral dimensions of the periodic simulation cell. We show that over short time scales, both the area A and the aspect ratio B of the rectangular periodic box show diffusive behavior under zero external field during dynam…
Large samples of experimentally produced graphene are polycrystalline. For the study of this material, it helps to have realistic computer samples that are also polycrystalline. A common approach to produce such samples in computer simulations is based on the method of Wooten, Winer, and Weaire, originally introduced for the simulation of amorphous silicon. We introduce an early rejection variation of their method, applied to graphene, which exploits the local nature of the structural changes to achieve a significant speed-up in the relaxation of the material, without compromising the dynamics…
Million-atom heat transport simulations of polycrystalline graphene approaching first-principles accuracy enabled by neuroevolution potential on desktop GPUs
We have revealed the decisive role of grain-boundary-induced strain fields in electron scattering in polycrystalline graphene. To this end, we have formulated the model based on Boltzmann transport theory which properly takes into account the microscopic structure of grain boundaries (GB) as a repeated sequence of heptagon-pentagon pairs. The effect of strain field is described within the deformation potential theory. For comparison, we consider the scattering due to electrostatic potential of charged grain boundary. We show that at naturally low GB charges the deformation potential scattering…
Grain boundaries (GBs), an important constituent of polycrystalline materials, have a wide range of manifestion and significantly affect the properties of materials. Fully understanding the effects of GBs is stalemated due to lack of complete knowledge of their structures and energetics. Here, for the first time, by taking graphene as an example, we propose an analytical energy functional of GBs in angle space. We find that an arbitrary GB can be characterized by a geometric combination of symmetric GBs that follow the principle of uniform distribution of their dislocation cores in straight li…
The interest in two-dimensional and layered materials continues to expand, driven by the compelling properties of individual atomic layers that can be stacked and/or twisted into synthetic heterostructures. The plethora of electronic properties as well as the emergence of many different quasiparticles, including plasmons, polaritons, trions and excitons with large, tunable binding energies that all can be controlled and modulated through electrical means has given rise to many device applications. In addition, these materials exhibit both room-temperature spin and valley polarization, magnetis…
Improved topological conformity enhances heat conduction across metal contacts on transferred graphene
转移的石墨烯(trG)上的金属接触的热导率可以显着降低从原生石墨烯(grG)上的类似接触的固有值,由于增加的粗糙度,残留物,氧化物和空隙的额外电阻。在本文中,我们比较了Al/trG/Cu界面的热导率(G)与Al/grG/Cu界面的热导率,以了解转移石墨烯上金属接触的热传递。我们的样品是通过化学气相沉积(CVD)在Cu箔上生长的多晶石墨烯和CVD生长的石墨烯转移到蒸发的Cu薄膜上。我们发现,对于生长的CVD石墨烯的Al/grG/Cu界面,在室温下G = 31 MW m ^{-2} K ^{-1},比Al/Cu界面低两个数量级。对于大多数在Cu膜上转移的石墨烯,G = 20 MW m ^{-2} K ^{-1},比生长的CVD石墨烯低35%。我们仔细排除了残留物,原生氧化物和界面粗糙度的贡献,并将生长和转移的CVD石墨烯的热导率的差异归因于石墨烯对Cu衬底的不同程度的一致性。我们发现,50%的接触面积仅使热导率降低了35%,这表明在石墨烯界面处的空隙中发生了少量的热传递。我们通过在300 ° C下退火样品成功地改善了转移石墨烯与衬底的一致性,从而将转移石墨烯的热导率提高到本征值。从Al/trG/Cu和Al/grG/Cu界面的G的温度依赖性测量,我们还证实了声子是金属/石墨烯/金属界面上的主要热载体,尽管石墨烯中诱导的载流子浓度为3 × 10 ^{12} cm ^{-2}。
Graphene films with large domain size by a two-step chemical vapor deposition process
石墨烯的基本性质使其成为一种有吸引力的材料,用于各种应用。已经开发了各种技术来生产石墨烯,最近我们发现通过在Cu箔上化学气相沉积(CVD)甲烷来合成大面积石墨烯。我们还表明,石墨烯在Cu上的生长是一个表面介导的过程,并且膜是多晶的,具有数十平方微米的区域。在本文中,我们报告的生长参数,如温度,甲烷流量和分压上的生长速率,域的大小,和表面覆盖的石墨烯的拉曼光谱,透射和扫描电子显微镜确定的效果。基于这些结果,我们开发了两步CVD工艺来合成具有数百平方微米面积的畴的石墨烯膜。扫描电子显微镜和拉曼光谱清楚地表明,通过改变生长参数的域尺寸的增加。透射电子显微镜进一步显示,畴相对于彼此以约13度至近30度的角度范围结晶旋转。对背栅FET进行的电输运测量表明,具有较大畴的整体膜倾向于具有较高的载流子迁移率,在室温下高达约16,000 cm 2 V-1 s-1。
Polar discontinuities and structural changes at oxide interfaces can give rise to a large variety of electronic and ionic phenomena. Related effects have been intensively studied in epitaxial systems, including ferroelectric domain walls and interfaces in superlattices. Here, we investigate the relation between polar discontinuities and the local chemistry at grain boundaries in polycrystalline ferroelectric ErMnO3. Using orientation mapping and different scanning probe microscopy techniques, we demonstrate that the polycrystalline material develops charged grain boundaries with enhanced elect…
Epitaxial (111) Films of Cu, Ni, and Cu$_xNi$_y$ on α-Al$_2$O$_3$(0001) for Graphene Growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition
评价(111)织构化的Cu、Ni和Cu $_x$ Ni $_y$的膜作为石墨烯的化学气相沉积的基底。在250 ℃至650 ℃的温度下,将400 nm至700 nm的金属厚度溅射到$α-$ Al $_2$ O $_3$(0001)的衬底上。然后将膜在管式炉中在1000 ℃下退火。X射线和电子背散射衍射测量表明,所有的薄膜具有(111)织构,但具有面内取向不同的晶粒$60^{\circ}$。所有薄膜的面内外延关系均为$[110]_{metal}$|| $[10\bar{1}0]_{{Al}_{2}{O}_{3}}$。在金属沉积之前在O $_2$中反应溅射Al导致超过97%的Ni膜的单一面内取向,但对Cu晶粒结构没有显著影响。透射电子显微镜显示干净的Ni/Al $_2$ O $_3$界面,确认了外延关系,并显示$60^{\circ}$孪晶晶粒的形成与Al $_2$ O $_3$表面上的特征相关。在退火过程中增加总压和Cu蒸气压降低了Cu和Cu $_x$ Ni $_y$薄膜的粗糙度。在Ni(111)膜上生长的石墨烯比在多晶Ni/SiO $_2$膜上生长的石墨烯更均匀,但仍然显示出在比晶粒之间的距离小得多的长度尺度上的厚度变化。
Graphene-silicon Schottky junction (GSJ) which has the potential for large-scale manufacturing and integration can bring new opportunities to Schottky solar cells for photovoltaic (PV) power conversion. However, the essential power conversion limitation for these devices lies in the small open-circuit voltage ($V_{oc}$), which depends on the Schottky barrier height (SBH). In this study, we introduce an electromechanical method based on the flexoelectric effect to enhance the PV efficiency in GSJ. By atomic force microscope (AFM) tip-based indentation and in situ current measurement, the curren…