Monolayer graphene as ultimate chemical passivation layer for arbitrarily shaped metal surfaces

Monolayer graphene was grown on polycrystalline Ru thin films on patterned fused silica. The Ru films grow with columnar structure with strongly aligned grains exposing flat (0 0 0 1) surface facets within the 3D geometric patterns and on the adjacent planar silica surface. The monolayer graphene was found to completely and uniformly cover the Ru films on the complex engineered substrates. In addition, we demonstrate that the single atomic layer graphene protects the underlying metal surface against reaction with ambient gases of particular importance for applications such as concave focusing mirrors, non-planar microelectrode arrays, etc. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.