Direct Growth of Highly Conductive Large-Area Stretchable Graphene

The direct synthesis of inherently defect-free, large-area graphene on flexible substrates is a key technology for soft electronic devices. In the present work, in situ plasma-assisted thermal chemical vapor deposition is implemented in order to synthesize 4 in. diameter high-quality graphene directly on 10 nm thick Ti-buffered substrates at 100 degrees C. The in situ synthesized monolayer graphene displays outstanding stretching properties coupled with low sheet resistance. Further improved mechanical and electronic performances are achieved by the in situ multi-stacking of graphene. The four-layered graphene multi-stack is shown to display an ultralow resistance of approximate to 6 omega sq(-1), which is consistently maintained during the harsh repeat stretching tests and is assisted by self-p-doping under ambient conditions. Graphene-field effect transistors fabricated on polydimethylsiloxane substrates reveal an unprecedented hole mobility of approximate to 21 000 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) at a gate voltage of -4 V, irrespective of the channel length, which is consistently maintained during the repeat stretching test of 5000 cycles at 140% parallel strain.

Automated summary

In this study, large-area, high-quality graphene was successfully synthesized directly on thin titanium substrates using in situ plasma-assisted thermal chemical vapor deposition. The monolayer graphene exhibited excellent stretching properties and low sheet resistance, with further improved mechanical and electronic performances achieved through in situ multi-stacking. The four-layered graphene multi-stack demonstrated ultralow resistance and high hole mobility in graphene-field effect transistors on flexible substrates.