title: Carbide-forming groups IVB-VIB metals: a new territory in the periodic table for CVD growth of graphene.
abstract: Early transition metals, especially groups IVB-VIB metals, can form stable carbides, which are known to exhibit excellent "noble-metal-like" catalytic activities. We demonstrate herein the applications of groups IVB-VIB metals in graphene growth using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition technique. Similar to the extensively studied Cu, Ni, and noble metals, these transition-metal foils facilitate the catalytic growth of single- to few-layer graphene. The most attractive advantage over the existing catalysts is their perfect control of layer thickness and uniformity with highly flexible experimental conditions by in situ converting the dissolved carbons into stable carbides to fully suppress the upward segregation/precipitation effect. The growth performance of graphene on these transition metals can be well explained by the periodic physicochemical properties of elements. Our work has disclosed a new territory of catalysts in the periodic table for graphene growth and is expected to trigger more interest in graphene research.
authors.affiliation: Center for Nanochemistry, Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry for Unstable and Stable Species, College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies and ‡Department of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University , Beijing 100871, PR China.
authors.forename: Zhiyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zou
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Xiuju
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Song
authors.forename: Yanfeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Zhongfan
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu