In Situ Investigation of the Motion Behavior of Graphene on Liquid Copper.

The in situ investigation of the dynamic growth process and novel assembly phenomena of graphene on liquid copper (Cu) is of great significance to deeply understand the special behavior of graphene and self-assembly mechanism. Here, the direct observation of the graphene growth and motion behavior on liquid Cu via in situ imaging is reported. Evidence of graphene movement on liquid Cu is offered and it is demonstrated that the translation and rotation behaviors of graphene are affected by the surface condition of liquid Cu. The self-assembly process of graphene array is also revealed by capturing the dynamic changes of graphene in real-time. Further analysis highlights the importance of surface energy of liquid Cu and the interaction between graphene building blocks during the self-assembling process. The growth parameters are also investigated to flexibly control the assembly configuration of graphene arrays. This work provides an insight into the mechanism of graphene motion and assembly behavior that can be used to guide the controllable manipulation of 2D materials and on-demand fabrication assembly structures with desired properties.