Nano-Foam of Few-layer graphene grown by CVD

Abstract

Graphene has received a lot of attention due to its excellent properties. However, many issues related to highly flammable gases for raw carbon sources and expensive pre-deposition process of metal catalysts for growth of graphene have been raised. Here, we report a direct way to prepare a nano-foam of few-layer graphene from polymer and metal precursor via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. Pyrolysis of polymer/nickel precursor film, simply prepared by spin-coating, leads to the formation of nano-foam of few-layer graphene characterized by SEM, TEM, Raman, XPS, and XRD. Further, we have proven the performance of nano-foam of few-layer graphene as a counter electrode in dye sensitized solar cells.