Graphene fabricated on non-metallic substrate

Currently, most methods of making graphene first grow the material on a film of metal, such as nickel or copper, said A. John Hart, the Mitsui Career Development Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at MIT.

‘To make it useful, you have to get it off the metal and onto a substrate, such as a silicon wafer or a polymer sheet, or something larger like a sheet of glass,’ Hart said in a statement. ‘But the process of transferring it has become much more frustrating than the process of growing the graphene itself, and can damage and contaminate the graphene.’

The new work, Hart said, still uses a metal film as the template - but instead of making graphene only on top of the metal film, it makes graphene on the film’s top and bottom. The substrate in this case is silicon dioxide, with a film of nickel on top of it.