In situ observation of step-edge in-plane growth of graphene in a STEM

Zheng Liu (), Yung-Chang Lin, Chun-Chieh Lu, Chao-Hui Yeh, Po-Wen Chiu, Sumio Iijima and Kazu Suenaga
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Zheng Liu: Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Yung-Chang Lin: Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Chun-Chieh Lu: National Tsing Hua University
Chao-Hui Yeh: National Tsing Hua University
Po-Wen Chiu: National Tsing Hua University
Sumio Iijima: Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)
Kazu Suenaga: Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST)

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract It is extremely difficult to control the growth orientation of the graphene layer in comparison to Si or III–V semiconductors. Here we report a direct observation of graphene growth and domain boundary formation in a scanning transmission electron microscope, with residual hydrocarbon in the microscope chamber being used as the carbon source for in-plane graphene growth at the step-edge of bilayer graphene substrate. We show that the orientation of the growth is strongly influenced by the step-edge structure and areas grown from a reconstructed 5–7 edge are rotated by 30° with respect to the mother layer. Furthermore, single heteroatoms like Si may act as catalytic active sites for the step-edge growth. The findings provide an insight into the mechanism of graphene growth and defect reconstruction that can be used to tailor carbon nanostructures with desired properties.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms5055

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