The Role of Surface Oxygen in the Growth of Large Single-Crystal Graphene on Copper

Oxygen Control of Graphene Growth The growth of graphene on copper surfaces through the decomposition of hydrocarbons such as methane can result in a wide variety of crystal domain sizes and morphologies. Hao et al. (p. 720 , published online 24 October; see the cover) found that the presence of surface oxygen could limit the number of nucleation sites and allowed centimeter-scale domains to grow through a diffusion-limited mechanism. The electrical conductivity of the graphene was comparable to that of exfoliated graphene.