Fig 1

Copper-vapor sublimed from copper foil assisted the growth of graphene on insulating substrates 41, 68, 72. (a) Schematic of the distance-dependent graphene growth along the gas flow direction; (b) Growth setup; (c) The Raman G band intensity as a function of distance; (d) A schematic of the Cu-vapor-catalyst-assisted growth of graphene on quartz glass and SiO2/Si substrate, where the copper foil was laid over the substrate without physical contact; (e) The Raman spectrum of graphene grown on glass with the Cu-vapor catalyst; (f) Illustration of graphene growth on insulating substrates by physical contact of copper foil through the formation of Cu-Si alloy; (g) Raman spectrum obtained from a random position on quartz glass. (a–e) Adapted from American Chemical Society publisher; (f, g) Adapted from Wiley-VCH publisher."

Fig 2

Graphene growth catalyzed by liquid metal Ga on the insulating substrate 42, 74. (a) and (b) Schematic of two experimental setups for CVD using Ga vapor catalysts; (c) Typical Raman spectra of the graphene layers synthesized on quartz and SiO2/Si substrates. The inset is a SEM image of the graphene on quartz; (d) Schematic of direct growth of graphene on quartz with the assistance of Ga vapor for transparent defogger; (e) The resistance profiles of directly grown graphene defoggers and transferred graphene defoggers before and after exposure to fog; (f) and (g) Upper surface of directly grown graphene absorbed by water molecules, while the current carriers passing through the under surface protected by the quartz substrate; (h) and (i) Both sides of transferred graphene absorbed by water molecules for lack of strong interaction force between the graphene and the quartz substrate. (a–c) Adapted from American Institute of Physics publisher; (d–i) Adapted from Wiley-VCH publisher."

Fig 3

Metal-containing species assisted direct growth of graphene 56, 76. (a) Illustration of graphene growth on h-BN/Cu foils using a nickelocene precursor; (b) Plot of the graphene domain size as a function of growth time using nickelocene (red), benzoic acid (blue), and methane (black) as precursors, respectively; (c) Schematic illustration of the graphene growth process with the presence of Cu(OAc)2; (d) Multilayer percentage of graphene grown with/without Cu(OAc)2; (e) Representative Raman spectra of graphene grown through the two routes; (f) Corresponding UV-Vis transmittance spectra of graphene films. (a, b) Adapted from Wiley-VCH publisher; (c–f) Adapted from Oxford University Press publisher."

Fig 4

Oxygen-aided growth of graphene on the insulating substrate 63, 79. (a) Schematic diagram of the oxygen-aided CVD growth of graphene on a SiO2/Si substrate; (b) Morphology of graphene without annealing treatment; (c) Morphology of graphene grown after a pre-annealing treatment in air; (d) Morphology of graphene grown after a pre-annealing treatment in H2, Scale bar 1 µm; (e) and (f) Schematic diagrams showing the surface reaction pathways for direct graphene growth on quartz throughout the O2-assisted and O2-free CVD; (g) and (h) Optical transmittance spectra, (i) and (j) Spatial sheet resistance mapping of the two types of graphene glass, respectively. (a–d) Adapted from American Chemical Society publisher; (e–j) Adapted from Springer Nature publisher."

Fig 5

Oxygen-containing species assisted direct growth of graphene 64, 81, 82. (a) Schematic of water-assisted CVD growth of graphene on SiO2/Si substrate; (b) and (c) AFM images of graphene grown on SiO2/Si substrates with and without water. Scale bars: 500 nm; (d) Arrhenius plots of grain size versus growth temperature; (e) Schematic illustration of graphene growth on glass with H2O assistance; (f) Time-dependent morphology evolution of graphene growth w-H2O promoters on quartz glass with growth time of 3, 4, and 5 h, respectively; (g–i) SEM images of graphene samples with uniform shape and size grown by the precursor-modification strategy; (j) Formation energies of the four hybrid structures consisting of graphene nanoribbons deposited on Si-terminated silica. (a–d) Adapted from Elsevier publisher; (e, f) Adapted from Wiley-VCH publisher; (g–j) Adapted from American Chemical Society publisher."

Fig 6

SiH4/GeH4 / BaF2-assisted direct growth of graphene 65, 83, 84. (a) The gaseous catalyst-assisted CVD growth of graphene on h-BN; (b) The growth duration dependence of the domain dimensions for single-crystalline graphene in the presence of silane (black), germane (red) gaseous catalysts and no catalyst (green), respectively; (c) Schematic illustration of gaseous GeH4 catalyst-assisted direct growth of uniform graphene on SiO2/Si surface; (d) Diagram of the experimental design and the lateral view of the gap between metal fluoride AF2 and quartz surface; (e) Number of nuclei of graphene as a function of growth time using BaF2 promotor; (f) Time evolution of the domain size by using BaF2 as promotor. (a, b) Adapted from Nature Publishing Group publisher; (c) Adapted from American Institute of Physics publisher; (d–f) Adapted from American Chemical Society publisher."