Direct Synthesis of Graphene Quantum Dots by Chemical Vapor Deposition

A bottom-up method to fabricate uniformly dispersed graphene quantum dots (GQDs) by atmospheric pressure CVD on copper substrates is reported. The size distribution of the GQDs can be controlled by carefully tuning the CVD growth parameters. Additionally, the GQDs can easily be transferred to other large-scale substrates and the fabrication process is relatively simple and convenient. The GQDs deposited on transparent substrates show well-known excitation-dependent photoluminescence behavior.