Abstract
It is widely accepted that solid-state membranes are indispensable media for the graphene process, particularly transfer procedures. But these membranes inevitably bring contaminations and residues to the transferred graphene and consequently compromise the material quality. This study reports a newly observed free-standing graphene-water membrane structure, which replaces the conventional solid-state supporting media with liquid film to sustain the graphene integrity and continuity. Experimental observation, theoretical model, and molecular dynamics simulations consistently indicate that the high surface tension of pure water and its large contact angle with graphene are essential factors for forming such a membrane structure. More interestingly, water surface tension ensures the flatness of graphene layers and renders high transfer quality on many types of target substrates. This report enriches the understanding of the interactions on reduced dimensional material while rendering an alternative approach for scalable layered material processing with ensured quality for advanced manufacturing.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 2201336 |
| Journal | Advanced Science |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 26 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Sep 15 2022 |
Funding
A.O. and X.X. contributed equally to this work. The authors appreciated the experimental support given by Dr. Sergei Urazhdin at Emory University. The material synthesis, processing, and characterization are supported by NSF DMR‐2105126 and Georgia State University Start‐up Funding. A.O. is supported with a full scholarship from Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. B.X. acknowledges the financial support from NSF CMMI‐1928788 and the computing sources from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) through allocation TG‐MCH210002, supported by the National Science Foundation (grant number ACI‐1548562). P. D acknowledges the financial support from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation R19AC00116. A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. A.O. and X.X. contributed equally to this work. The authors appreciated the experimental support given by Dr. Sergei Urazhdin at Emory University. The material synthesis, processing, and characterization are supported by NSF DMR-2105126 and Georgia State University Start-up Funding. A.O. is supported with a full scholarship from Jazan University, Saudi Arabia. B.X. acknowledges the financial support from NSF CMMI-1928788 and the computing sources from the Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment (XSEDE) through allocation TG-MCH210002, supported by the National Science Foundation (grant number ACI-1548562). P. D acknowledges the financial support from the Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation R19AC00116. S.H. was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering. A portion of this research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility. [Correction added after publication September 15 2022: the acknowledgements have been updated].
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment | |
| XSEDE | |
| National Science Foundation | ACI‐1548562, DMR‐2105126 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Science | |
| Basic Energy Sciences | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| Bureau of Reclamation | R19AC00116 |
| Georgia State University | CMMI‐1928788 |
| Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering |
Keywords
- graphene
- polymer-free transfer
- surface tension
- ultra-flatness
