IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-60323-1.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Edge-feeding synchronous epitaxy of layer-controlled graphene films on heterogeneous catalytic substrates

Author

Listed:
  • Buhang Chen

    (Soochow University
    Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Xiongzhi Zeng

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Zhetong Liu

    (Peking University)

  • Wenlong Dong

    (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology)

  • Ding Pei

    (ShanghaiTech University)

  • Huan Wang

    (Beijing Graphene Institute)

  • Yanyan Dong

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    North University of China)

  • Chengjin Wu

    (Soochow University
    Beijing Graphene Institute)

  • Xiaoyin Gao

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Hanbo Xiao

    (ShanghaiTech University)

  • Han Gao

    (ShanghaiTech University)

  • Hang Jia

    (Beijing Graphene Institute)

  • Aiheng Yuan

    (Beijing Graphene Institute)

  • Jinlong Du

    (Peking University)

  • Heng Chen

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Haiyang Liu

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Congwei Tan

    (Peking University)

  • Jianbo Yin

    (Peking University)

  • Zhongkai Liu

    (ShanghaiTech University)

  • Luqi Liu

    (National Center for Nanoscience and Technology)

  • Peng Gao

    (Peking University)

  • Kostya S. Novoselov

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Hailin Peng

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Zhenyu Li

    (University of Science and Technology of China
    University of Science and Technology of China)

  • Luzhao Sun

    (Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

  • Zhongfan Liu

    (Soochow University
    Beijing Graphene Institute
    Peking University)

Abstract

Compared with single-layer two-dimensional (2D) materials, bilayer, trilayer, and few-layer 2D materials exhibit enhanced band structure tunability, improved electrical and thermal properties, and superior mechanical strength and barrier performance. However, the layer-controlled synthesis of 2D films with high layer number uniformity remains challenging, due to the difficulty in the additional layer nucleation and the effective realization of layer-by-layer growth. Herein, we report an edge-feeding synchronous epitaxial growth mode breaking the limit of traditional epitaxy theories. An efficient heterogeneous Cu–Cu2O catalyst is demonstrated, where graphene edge-surrounding Cu2O is crucial in precursor dissociation, atomic carbon diffusion, and edge energy reduction. The synchronous growth method can be generalized to the layer-controlled synthesis of 2–7-layer graphene films. Relying on this growth strategy, we successfully achieved the industrial-scale production of homogeneous A3-sized ABA-trilayer graphene films (42 × 30 square centimeters) with good mechanical properties and peeling-transferring intactness. Our method offers a robust strategy for the layer-controlled synthesis of 2D material films.

Suggested Citation

  • Buhang Chen & Xiongzhi Zeng & Zhetong Liu & Wenlong Dong & Ding Pei & Huan Wang & Yanyan Dong & Chengjin Wu & Xiaoyin Gao & Hanbo Xiao & Han Gao & Hang Jia & Aiheng Yuan & Jinlong Du & Heng Chen & Hai, 2025. "Edge-feeding synchronous epitaxy of layer-controlled graphene films on heterogeneous catalytic substrates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-10, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60323-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-60323-1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-60323-1
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-60323-1?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Lei Liu & Taotao Li & Liang Ma & Weisheng Li & Si Gao & Wenjie Sun & Ruikang Dong & Xilu Zou & Dongxu Fan & Liangwei Shao & Chenyi Gu & Ningxuan Dai & Zhihao Yu & Xiaoqing Chen & Xuecou Tu & Yuefeng N, 2022. "Uniform nucleation and epitaxy of bilayer molybdenum disulfide on sapphire," Nature, Nature, vol. 605(7908), pages 69-75, May.
    2. Yuanbo Zhang & Tsung-Ta Tang & Caglar Girit & Zhao Hao & Michael C. Martin & Alex Zettl & Michael F. Crommie & Y. Ron Shen & Feng Wang, 2009. "Direct observation of a widely tunable bandgap in bilayer graphene," Nature, Nature, vol. 459(7248), pages 820-823, June.
    3. Kyung Yeol Ma & Leining Zhang & Sunghwan Jin & Yan Wang & Seong In Yoon & Hyuntae Hwang & Juseung Oh & Da Sol Jeong & Meihui Wang & Shahana Chatterjee & Gwangwoo Kim & A-Rang Jang & Jieun Yang & Sunmi, 2022. "Epitaxial single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride multilayers on Ni (111)," Nature, Nature, vol. 606(7912), pages 88-93, June.
    4. Li Wang & Jiajie Qi & Wenya Wei & Mengqi Wu & Zhibin Zhang & Xiaomin Li & Huacong Sun & Quanlin Guo & Meng Cao & Qinghe Wang & Chao Zhao & Yuxuan Sheng & Zhetong Liu & Can Liu & Muhong Wu & Zhi Xu & W, 2024. "Bevel-edge epitaxy of ferroelectric rhombohedral boron nitride single crystal," Nature, Nature, vol. 629(8010), pages 74-79, May.
    5. Zhenjia Zhou & Fuchen Hou & Xianlei Huang & Gang Wang & Zihao Fu & Weilin Liu & Guowen Yuan & Xiaoxiang Xi & Jie Xu & Junhao Lin & Libo Gao, 2023. "Stack growth of wafer-scale van der Waals superconductor heterostructures," Nature, Nature, vol. 621(7979), pages 499-505, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lu Li & Qinqin Wang & Fanfan Wu & Qiaoling Xu & Jinpeng Tian & Zhiheng Huang & Qinghe Wang & Xuan Zhao & Qinghua Zhang & Qinkai Fan & Xiuzhen Li & Yalin Peng & Yangkun Zhang & Kunshan Ji & Aomiao Zhi , 2024. "Epitaxy of wafer-scale single-crystal MoS2 monolayer via buffer layer control," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Jun Zhou & Guitao Zhang & Wenhui Wang & Qian Chen & Weiwei Zhao & Hongwei Liu & Bei Zhao & Zhenhua Ni & Junpeng Lu, 2024. "Phase-engineered synthesis of atomically thin te single crystals with high on-state currents," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Xiang Xu & Yunxin Chen & Pengbin Liu & Hao Luo & Zexin Li & Dongyan Li & Haoyun Wang & Xingyu Song & Jinsong Wu & Xing Zhou & Tianyou Zhai, 2024. "General synthesis of ionic-electronic coupled two-dimensional materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Yifan Zhu & Liyun Cao & Aurélien Merkel & Shi-Wang Fan & Brice Vincent & Badreddine Assouar, 2021. "Janus acoustic metascreen with nonreciprocal and reconfigurable phase modulations," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Yiran Ding & Mengqi Zeng & Qijing Zheng & Jiaqian Zhang & Ding Xu & Weiyin Chen & Chenyang Wang & Shulin Chen & Yingying Xie & Yu Ding & Shuting Zheng & Jin Zhao & Peng Gao & Lei Fu, 2021. "Bidirectional and reversible tuning of the interlayer spacing of two-dimensional materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Tianhua Ren & Andrés Granados del Águila & Zhaolong Chen & Qianhui Xu & Xuehong Zhou & Rui Duan & Magdalena Grzeszczyk & Xiao Gong & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Kostya S. Novoselov & Maciej K, 2025. "Van der Waals photonic integrated circuit with coherent light generation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Xingchen Pang & Yang Wang & Yuyan Zhu & Zhenhan Zhang & Du Xiang & Xun Ge & Haoqi Wu & Yongbo Jiang & Zizheng Liu & Xiaoxian Liu & Chunsen Liu & Weida Hu & Peng Zhou, 2024. "Non-volatile rippled-assisted optoelectronic array for all-day motion detection and recognition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    8. Kaining Yang & Xiang Gao & Yaning Wang & Tongyao Zhang & Yuchen Gao & Xin Lu & Shihao Zhang & Jianpeng Liu & Pingfan Gu & Zhaoping Luo & Runjie Zheng & Shimin Cao & Hanwen Wang & Xingdan Sun & Kenji W, 2023. "Unconventional correlated insulator in CrOCl-interfaced Bernal bilayer graphene," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    9. Alberto Montanaro & Giulia Piccinini & Vaidotas Mišeikis & Vito Sorianello & Marco A. Giambra & Stefano Soresi & Luca Giorgi & Antonio D’Errico & K. Watanabe & T. Taniguchi & Sergio Pezzini & Camilla , 2023. "Sub-THz wireless transmission based on graphene-integrated optoelectronic mixer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    10. Anna M. Seiler & Nils Jacobsen & Martin Statz & Noelia Fernandez & Francesca Falorsi & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Zhiyu Dong & Leonid S. Levitov & R. Thomas Weitz, 2024. "Probing the tunable multi-cone band structure in Bernal bilayer graphene," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Xiaodan Lyu & Leevi Kallioniemi & Hao Hong & Rui Qu & Yan Zhang & Jesus Zúñiga-Perez & Kaihui Liu & Weibo Gao, 2025. "A tunable entangled photon-pair source based on a Van der Waals insulator," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Sui-An Chou & Chen Chang & Bo-Hong Wu & Chih-Piao Chuu & Pai-Chia Kuo & Liang-Hsuan Pan & Kai-Chun Huang & Man-Hong Lai & Yi-Feng Chen & Che-Lun Lee & Hao-Yu Chen & Jessie Shiue & Yu-Ming Chang & Ming, 2025. "Large-scale alkali-assisted growth of monolayer and bilayer WSe2 with a low defect density," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-8, December.
    13. Luying Song & Ying Zhao & Bingqian Xu & Ruofan Du & Hui Li & Wang Feng & Junbo Yang & Xiaohui Li & Zijia Liu & Xia Wen & Yanan Peng & Yuzhu Wang & Hang Sun & Ling Huang & Yulin Jiang & Yao Cai & Xue J, 2024. "Robust multiferroic in interfacial modulation synthesized wafer-scale one-unit-cell of chromium sulfide," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Hadrien Duprez & Solenn Cances & Andraz Omahen & Michele Masseroni & Max J. Ruckriegel & Christoph Adam & Chuyao Tong & Rebekka Garreis & Jonas D. Gerber & Wister Huang & Lisa Gächter & Kenji Watanabe, 2024. "Spin-valley locked excited states spectroscopy in a one-particle bilayer graphene quantum dot," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    15. Chaojie Luo & Guohua Cao & Beilin Wang & Lili Jiang & Hengyi Zhao & Tongrui Li & Xiaolin Tai & Zhiyong Lin & Yue Lin & Zhe Sun & Ping Cui & Hui Zhang & Zhenyu Zhang & Changgan Zeng, 2024. "Self-assembly of 1T/1H superlattices in transition metal dichalcogenides," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-7, December.
    16. Jin Jiang & Qixuan Gao & Zekang Zhou & Cheng Shen & Mario Di Luca & Emily Hajigeorgiou & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Mitali Banerjee, 2025. "Direct probing of energy gaps and bandwidth in gate-tunable flat band graphene systems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Fankai Zeng & Ran Wang & Wenya Wei & Zuo Feng & Quanlin Guo & Yunlong Ren & Guoliang Cui & Dingxin Zou & Zhensheng Zhang & Song Liu & Kehai Liu & Ying Fu & Jinzong Kou & Li Wang & Xu Zhou & Zhilie Tan, 2023. "Stamped production of single-crystal hexagonal boron nitride monolayers on various insulating substrates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    18. Junzhu Li & Abdus Samad & Yue Yuan & Qingxiao Wang & Mohamed Nejib Hedhili & Mario Lanza & Udo Schwingenschlögl & Iwnetim Abate & Deji Akinwande & Zheng Liu & Bo Tian & Xixiang Zhang, 2024. "Single-crystal hBN Monolayers from Aligned Hexagonal Islands," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    19. Lutao Li & Junjie Yao & Juntong Zhu & Yuan Chen & Chen Wang & Zhicheng Zhou & Guoxiang Zhao & Sihan Zhang & Ruonan Wang & Jiating Li & Xiangyi Wang & Zheng Lu & Lingbo Xiao & Qiang Zhang & Guifu Zou, 2023. "Colloid driven low supersaturation crystallization for atomically thin Bismuth halide perovskite," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    20. Kumar, Gagan & Adhikari, Annwesha & Roy, Anupam & Lahiri, Sourabh, 2024. "Two-dimensional ASEP model to study density profiles in CVD growth," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 656(C).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-60323-1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.