AUTHOR=Zehra Tashfeen , Syari’ati Ali , Ivashenko Oleksii , Bignardi Luca , Van Dorp Willem F. , De Hosson Jeff T. M. , Rudolf Petra 

TITLE=Graphene growth from photo-polymerized bi-phenylthiol self-assembled monolayers

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nanotechnology

VOLUME=Volume 6 - 2024

YEAR=2024

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nanotechnology/articles/10.3389/fnano.2024.1366542

DOI=10.3389/fnano.2024.1366542

ISSN=2673-3013

ABSTRACT=We present an enhanced methodology for the synthesis of graphene utilizing photo-polymerized selfassembled monolayers (SAMs) of 1,1ʹ-biphenyl-4-thiol on both electropolished and oxidized copper substrates. The SAMs underwent a two-step process involving light-induced polymerization followed by annealing in a vacuum furnace to yield the two-dimensional solid. Comprehensive characterization using contact angle measurements, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, as well as scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy, provided conclusive evidence of single-layer graphene growth. Notably, our findings revealed superior quality graphene on oxidized copper substrates compared to electropolished counterparts, highlighting the impact of substrate choice on the resultant material quality.