Sustained and Controlled Release of Volatile Precursors for Chemical Vapor Deposition of Graphene at Atmospheric Pressure.

Precursors and catalysts play vital roles in chemical reactions. Considerable efforts have been devoted to the investigation of catalysts for graphene growth by chemical vapor deposition in recent years. However, there has been little research on precursors because of a lack of innovation in term of creating a controllable feeding method. Herein, we present a novel sustained and controlled release approach, and develop a convenient, safe, and potentially scalable feeding system with the assistance of matrix materials and a simple portable feeder. As a result, a highly volatile liquid precursor can be fed accurately to grow large-area, uniform graphene films with optimal properties. This feeding approach will further benefit the synthesis of other two-dimensional materials from various precursors.