Smart Energy and Sustainable Environment , ISSN 2668-957X
2020, Volume 23, Issue 1
Pages 13-20

https://doi.org/10.46390/j.smensuen.23120.77

3-D graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) for energy applications

Abstract

The tremendous need for more efficient energy systems such as fuel cells, lithium ion batteries and supercapacitors production led to materials development of which 2D and 3D graphene are the most important in terms of better electrical conductivity, large area, easy of functionalization. The influence of few kinetic parameters on 3D graphene growth on Ni foam substrate catalyst is discussed in this study, among them being: the working temperature in the reaction chamber, time of reaction and ethylene gas flow used as carbon source during the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process.  In order to preserve the 3D-graphene shape during their transfer, the nickel matrix was removed without using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as post growth stabilizer of the graphene foam.  The samples were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Optical Microscopy (OM). The Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) method was used to calculate the specific surface area, and the pore volume and pore radius were estimated by Barret-Joyner-Halenda method. The results have shown that a 1.6 mm thickness multilayer porous graphene that reproduces the Ni foam was obtained. The pore radius is about 1.9 nm, surface area 9.821 m²/g, and the average graphene mass density is about 12 mg/cm³. As compared with other methods, by CVD is possible to obtain in one step, large area (up to 100 cm² using the CVD installation presented in this paper) of graphene foam, with high porosity and plane surface that allow directly utilization for different applications.

References