Browsing by Author "Brinza O."

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    Graphene synthesis by inductively heated copper foils: Reactor design and operation
    (2020-04-01) Pashova K.; Dhaouadi E.; Hinkov I.; Brinza O.; Roussigné Y.; Abderrabba M.; Farhat S.
    We report on the design of a reactor to grow graphene via inductively heating of copper foils by radio frequency (RF) magnetic fields. A nearly uniform magnetic field induced by Helmholtz-like coils penetrates the copper foil generating eddy currents. While the frequency of the current is being rapidly varied, the substrate temperature increases from room temperature to ~1050 °C in 60 s. This temperature is maintained under Ar/H2 flow to reduce the copper, and under Ar/H2/CH4 to nucleate and grow the graphene over the entire copper foil. After the power cut-off, the temperature decreases rapidly to room temperature, stopping graphene secondary nucleation. Good quality graphene was obtained and transferred onto silicon, and coated with a 300 nm layer of SiO2 by chemical etching of the copper foil. After synthesis, samples were characterized by Raman spectroscopy. The design of the coils and the total power requirements for the graphene induction heating system were first estimated. Then, the effect of the process parameters on the temperature distribution in the copper foil was performed by solving the transient and steady-state coupled electromagnetic and thermal problem in the 2D domain. The quantitative effects of these process parameters were investigated, and the optimization analysis results are reported providing a root toward a scalable process for large-sized graphene.
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    One-step synthesis of graphene, copper and zinc oxide graphene hybrids via arc discharge: Experiments and modeling
    (2020-04-01) Kane A.; Hinkov I.; Brinza O.; Hosni M.; Barry A.H.; Cherif S.M.; Farhat S.
    In this paper, we report on a modified arc process to synthetize graphene, copper and zinc oxide graphene hybrids. The anode was made of pure graphite or graphite mixed with metals or metal oxides. After applying a controlled direct current, plasma is created in the interelectrode region and the anode is consumed by eroding. Continuous and abundant flux of small carbon, zinc or copper species, issued from the anode at a relatively high temperature, flows through the plasma and condenses in the vicinity of a water-cooled cathode leading to few-layered graphene sheets and highly ordered carbon structures. When the graphite rod is filled with copper or zinc oxide nanoparticles, few layers of curved graphene films were anchored with spherical Cu and ZnO nanoparticles leading to a one-step process synthesis of graphene hybrids, which combine the synergetic properties of graphene along with nanostructured metals or semiconducting materials. The as-prepared samples were characterized by Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), spatially resolved electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS), energy filtered elemental mapping and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In addition to the experimental study, numerical simulations were performed to determine the velocity, temperature and chemical species distributions in the arc plasma under specific graphene synthesis conditions, thereby providing valuable insight into growth mechanisms.