title: Epitaxial nucleation of CVD bilayer graphene on copper.
abstract: Bilayer graphene (BLG) has emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation electronic applications, especially when it exists in the Bernal-stacked form, but its large-scale production remains a challenge. Here we present an experimental and first-principles calculation study of the epitaxial chemical vapor deposition (CVD) nucleation process for Bernal-stacked BLG growth on Cu using ethanol as a precursor. Results show that a carefully adjusted flow rate of ethanol can yield a uniform BLG film with a surface coverage of nearly 90% and a Bernal-stacking ratio of nearly 100% on ordinary flat Cu substrates, and its epitaxial nucleation of the second layer is mainly due to the active CH3radicals with the presence of a monolayer-graphene-covered Cu surface. We believe that this nucleation mechanism will help clarify the formation of BLG by the epitaxial CVD process, and lead to many new strategies for scalable synthesis of graphene with more controllable structures and numbers of layers.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yenan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. feng.ding@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Jianing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Song
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Shaoqian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Xuewei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Miao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Rong
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Xiang
authors.affiliation: Institute of Microelectronics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8656, Japan.
authors.forename: Shigeo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Pei
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Institute of Textiles and Clothing, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. feng.ding@polyu.edu.hk.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Institute of Applied Mechanics and Key Laboratory of Soft Machines and Smart Devices of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310012, P. R. China. peizhao@zju.edu.cn htw@zju.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Hongtao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang