CSIRO Manufacturing, P.O. Box 218, Bradfield Road, Lindfield, New South Wales 2070, Australia.
School of Physics, The University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia.
Nat Commun. 2017 Jan 30;8:14217. doi: 10.1038/ncomms14217.
Thermal chemical vapour deposition techniques for graphene fabrication, while promising, are thus far limited by resource-consuming and energy-intensive principles. In particular, purified gases and extensive vacuum processing are necessary for creating a highly controlled environment, isolated from ambient air, to enable the growth of graphene films. Here we exploit the ambient-air environment to enable the growth of graphene films, without the need for compressed gases. A renewable natural precursor, soybean oil, is transformed into continuous graphene films, composed of single-to-few layers, in a single step. The enabling parameters for controlled synthesis and tailored properties of the graphene film are discussed, and a mechanism for the ambient-air growth is proposed. Furthermore, the functionality of the graphene is demonstrated through direct utilization as an electrode to realize an effective electrochemical genosensor. Our method is applicable to other types of renewable precursors and may open a new avenue for low-cost synthesis of graphene films.
热化学气相沉积技术在石墨烯制备方面很有前景，但迄今为止，该技术受到资源消耗和能源密集型原理的限制。特别是，为了在与环境空气隔离的高度受控环境中创建一个能够生长石墨烯薄膜的环境，需要使用净化气体和广泛的真空处理。在这里，我们利用环境空气来实现石墨烯薄膜的生长，而无需使用压缩气体。我们使用可再生的天然前体——大豆油，一步法即可转化为连续的石墨烯薄膜，其层数为单层到少数几层。文中讨论了控制合成和调整石墨烯薄膜性能的参数，并提出了在环境空气中生长石墨烯的机制。此外，还通过直接将石墨烯用作电极来实现有效的电化学生物传感器，展示了其功能。我们的方法适用于其他类型的可再生前体，可能为低成本合成石墨烯薄膜开辟新途径。
