Fluorobenzene and Water-Promoted Rapid Growth of Vertical Graphene Arrays by Electric-Field-Assisted PECVD

Vertical graphene (VG) arrays show exposed sharp edges, ultra-low electrical resistance, large surface-to-volume ratio, and low light reflectivity, thus having great potential in emerging applications, including field emission, sensing, energy storage devices, and stray light shields. Although plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) is regarded as an effective approach for the synthesis of VG, it is still challenging to increase the growth rate and height of VG arrays simultaneously. Herein, a fluorobenzene and water-assisted method to rapidly grow VG arrays in an electric field-assisted PECVD system is developed. Fluorobenzene-based carbon sources are used to produce highly electronegative fluorine radicals to accelerate the decomposition of methanol and promote the growth of VG. Water is applied to produce hydroxyl radicals in order to etch amorphous carbon and accelerate the VG growth. The fastest growth rate can be up to 15.9 mu m h(-1). Finally, VG arrays with a height of 144 mu m are successfully synthesized at an average rate of 14.4 mu m h(-1). As a kind of super black material, these VG arrays exhibit an ultra-low reflectance of 0.25%, showing great prospect in stray light shielding.

Automated summary

A fluorobenzene and water-assisted method is developed to rapidly grow vertical graphene (VG) arrays in an electric field-assisted PECVD system. This method utilizes fluorobenzene-based carbon sources to produce electronegative fluorine radicals and water to produce hydroxyl radicals, accelerating the VG growth and increasing the growth rate. The synthesized VG arrays exhibit ultra-low reflectance and have great potential in stray light shielding.