Transfer of CVD-Graphene on Real-World Surfaces in an Eco-Friendly Manner

Abstract

Here we report a one-step and all-dry transfer method for transfer of chemical vapor deposited graphene (CVD-graphene) on different application surfaces using pressure sensitive adhesive (PSA) material as the transfer medium, which is deposited on the application surface by the initiated CVD (iCVD) method in the form of a thin film. The as-deposited PSA film is a copolymer of acrylic acid and ethylhexyl acrylate, in which the relative amount of each component was shown to be a determining factor for the proper adjustment of the adhesive force required for the adhesion-based transfer process. With the help of the thin PSA film on the real-world application surface, graphene transfer was achieved with ease and at high quality by just peeling off the copper substrate, where CVD-graphene was initially deposited. With the all-dry and eco-friendly transfer procedure outlined in this study, it was possible to transfer graphene to a flexible large-area PET substrate (10 cm x 10 cm) on which higher conductivity values were obtained from the I-V experiments as compared with the graphene transferred using the classical wet approach.