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Overview
Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon atoms tightly packed in a two- dimensional honeycomb lattice. This novel material is atomically thin, chemically inert, consists of light atoms, and possesses a highly ordered structure. Graphene is electrically and thermally conductive, and is the strongest material ever measured. These remarkable properties make graphene the ideal support film for electron microscopy.
Graphene Support Films for TEM Synthesis
the substrate-free gas-phase method
Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon atoms tightly packed in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice. The novel material has generated great interest throughout the scientific and technological community because of its remarkable properties and numerous potential applications. However, obtaining pure and highly ordered graphene has been a challenge. Small quantities of ultrahigh-quality graphene have been isolated through an unwieldy and time-consuming process involving the mechanical exfoliation of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. Alternative methods require substrates or graphite to create atomically-thin sheets, and these techniques involve multiple steps, expensive substrates, or non-ambient conditions. Furthermore, the sheets produced by these alternative methods exhibit defects, disorder, and oxygen functionalities that have a detrimental effect on the properties of graphene.
The substrate-free gas-phase method is the first and only process that can synthesize ultrahigh-quality graphene in a single step, without the use of substrates or graphite [1]. Graphene sheets are created through the delivery of liquid alcohol droplets directly into atmospheric-pressure microwave- generated plasmas. Extensive characterization of the synthesized graphene has proven that the sheets are oxygen-free and exhibit a highly ordered structure [2]. The graphene produced by this unique method can immediately be utilized for graphene applications.
A typical TEM image of graphene sheets freely suspended on a lacey carbon TEM grid.
An atomic-resolution image of a clean and structurally perfect graphene sheet synthesized by the substrate-free gas-phase method. Individual carbon atoms appear white in the image.
Elemental analysis by FT-IR reveals that the synthesized graphene sheets are free of detrimental oxygen functionalities. The FT-IR spectrum of synthesized graphene is similar to that of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG).