The pre-treatment of copper for graphene synthesis

Graphene synthesis by chemical-vapor-deposition (CVD) has attracted great interest. As the substrates for graphene growth, copper has become a common choice because its capacity could produce high-quality and uniform monolayer graphene. Morphology and surface conditions of the copper foil have great influence on the quality of the graphene grown on it. Here we report a rapid and effective copper pre-treatment method to improve the quality of graphene. After a pre-etching in 1 mol/L Fe(NO3)3 aqueous solutions for 90 s, the quality of the copper foil surface has been improved. Compared with the HCl treatment and electro-chemical polishing, Fe(NO3)3 pre-etching can generate a better result and has been verified to have general applicability for different types of copper foils.