High-speed roll-to-roll manufacturing of graphene using a concentric tube CVD reactor

We present the design of a concentric tube (CT) reactor for roll-to-roll chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on flexible substrates, and its application to continuous production of graphene on copper foil. In the CTCVD reactor, the thin foil substrate is helically wrapped around the inner tube, and translates through the gap between the concentric tubes. We use a bench-scale prototype machine to synthesize graphene on copper substrates at translation speeds varying from 25 mm/min to 500 mm/min, and investigate the influence of process parameters on the uniformity and coverage of graphene on a continuously moving foil. At lower speeds, high-quality monolayer graphene is formed; at higher speeds, rapid nucleation of small graphene domains is observed, yet coalescence is prevented by the limited residence time in the CTCVD system. We show that a smooth isothermal transition between the reducing and carbon-containing atmospheres, enabled by injection of the carbon feedstock via radial holes in the inner tube, is essential to high-quality roll-to-roll graphene CVD. We discuss how the foil quality and microstructure limit the uniformity of graphene over macroscopic dimensions. We conclude by discussing means of scaling and reconfiguring the CTCVD design based on general requirements for 2-D materials manufacturing

Wide varieties of cationic nanoparticles induce defects in supported lipid bilayers

Nanoparticles with widely varying physical properties and origins (spherical versus irregular, synthetic versus biological, organic versus inorganic, flexible versus rigid, small versus large) have been previously noted to translocate across the cell plasma membrane. We have employed atomic force microscopy to determine if the physical disruption of lipid membranes, formation of holes and/or thinned regions, is a common mechanism of interaction between these nanoparticles and lipids. It was found that a wide variety of nanoparticles, including a cell penetrating peptide (MSI-78), a protein (TAT), polycationic polymers (PAMAM dendrimers, pentanol-core PAMAM dendrons, polyethyleneimine, and diethylaminoethyl-dextran), and two inorganic particles (Au-NH2, SiO2-NH2), can induce disruption, including the formation of holes, membrane thinning, and/or membrane erosion, in supported lipid bilayers

Direct fabrication of graphene on SiO 2 enabled by thin film stress engineering

We demonstrate direct production of graphene on SiO 2 by CVD growth of graphene at the interface between a Ni film and the SiO 2 substrate, followed by dry mechanical delamination of the Ni using adhesive tape. This result is enabled by understanding of the competition between stress evolution and microstructure development upon annealing of the Ni prior to the graphene growth step. When the Ni film remains adherent after graphene growth, the balance between residual stress and adhesion governs the ability to mechanically remove the Ni after the CVD process. In this study the graphene on SiO 2 comprises micron-scale domains, ranging from monolayer to multilayer. The graphene has >90% coverage across centimeter-scale dimensions, limited by the size of our CVD chamber. Further engineering of the Ni film microstructure and stress state could enable manufacturing of highly uniform interfacial graphene followed by clean mechanical delamination over practically indefinite dimensions. Moreover, our findings suggest that preferential adhesion can enable production of 2-D materials directly on application-relevant substrates. This is attractive compared to transfer methods, which can cause mechanical damage and leave residues behind