Design of carbon sources: starting point for chemical vapor deposition of graphene

Controllable synthesis of graphene with low-cost, simple procedure, and outstanding reliability, is the foundation for basic researches and practical applications. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) is a controllable, scalable, and promising way for graphene industry, but suffers from high resource consumption and limited productivity. The design of carbon sources is critical as it is strongly bound up with the growth strategy and features of graphene, contributing to optimize the cost, conditions, and efficiency of current technologies. Of late years, carbonaceous feedstocks, ranging from widely used methane to tailored monomers, have been used to grow graphene with a range of different structures and properties, triggering great progresses on the synthesis of nanoribbons, heteroatom-doped graphene (HG), and transfer-free graphene. Here, the diverse precursors with various features are systematically summarized by presenting corresponding advances and strategies. The growth mechanisms and superiorities of different carbon sources are discussed to highlight the association between precursors and graphene growth. Eventually, challenges and opportunities for precursor-driven CVD are sketched.