Comparison of Graphene Growth on Single-Crystalline and Polycrystalline Ni by Chemical Vapor Deposition

We report a comparative study and Raman characterization of the formation of graphene on single crystal Ni (111) and polycrystalline Ni substrates using chemical vapor deposition (CVD). Preferential formation of monolayer/bilayer graphene on the single crystal surface is attributed to its atomically smooth surface and the absence of grain boundaries. In contrast, CVD graphene formed on polycrystalline Ni leads to a higher percentage of multilayer graphene (<= 3 layers), which is attributed to the presence of grain boundaries in Ni that can serve as nucleation sites for multilayer growth. Micro-Raman surface mapping reveals that the area percentages of monolayer/bilayer graphene are 91.4% for the Ni (111) substrate and 72.8% for the polycrystalline Ni-substrate under comparable CVD conditions. The use of single crystal substrates for graphene growth may open ways for uniform high-quality graphene over large areas.