Low-damage nitrogen incorporation in graphene films by nitrogen plasma treatment: Effect of airborne contaminants. (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Robert Bigras, Germain; Glad, Xavier; Vandsburger, Leron; Charpin, Carl; Levesque, Pierre; Martel, Richard; Stafford, Luc
• Is Part Of: Carbon. Volume 144(2019)
• Page Start: 532
• Page End: 539
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Graphene -- N-incorporation -- Downstream plasma treatment -- X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy -- Raman spectroscopy; Carbon -- Periodicals; Carbone -- Périodiques; Koolstof; Toepassingen; Electronic journals; 546.681
• DOI: 10.1016/j.carbon.2018.12.095
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-6223

Abstract

Abstract: Graphene films grown on copper by chemical vapor deposition were exposed to the late afterglow of a reduced-pressure N2 plasma sustained by microwave electromagnetic fields. X-ray photoelectron and Raman spectroscopies reveal extremely high incorporation of plasma-generated N atoms into the graphene film (N/C = 29%) while maintaining an unprecedentedly low-damage generation (D:G = 0.35–0.45) compared to the literature (0.5–2.5). The incorporation dynamics between graphene on copper and graphene on copper oxide are also compared and discussed. After transfer on SiO2 /Si substrate, the N/C content decrease to only 6%. This reveals that a large part of the N atoms are weakly bonded to the graphene surface. Most of the nitrogen incorporation seems linked to the functionalization of weakly bonded hydrocarbons initially adsorbed from air exposure or carbon-nitrogen structures arising from plasma-surface interactions. Graphical abstract: Image 1