Influence of Growth Time and Temperature on Optical Characteristics and Surface Wetting in Nano-Crystalline Graphene Deposited by PECVD Directly on Silicon Dioxide

Unique electronic properties of graphene offer highly interesting ways to manipulate the functional properties of surfaces and develop novel structures which are sensitive to physical and chemical interactions. Nano-crystalline graphene is frequently preferable to crystalline monolayer in detecting devices. In this work, nano-crystalline graphene layers were synthesized directly on SiO2/Si substrates by plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD). The influence of the deposition time and temperature on the characteristics of the structures were studied. The optical properties and evaporation kinetics of pure water droplets were analysed, along with arrangement and composition of the grown layers. The nano-crystalline graphene layers grown at 500 °C were characterised by the refraction index 2.75 ± 0.35 and the normalised excess Gibbs free energy density 0.85/γwater 10−4 m, both being similar to those of the monolayer graphene. The changes in the refraction index and the excess Gibbs free energy were related to the parameters of the Raman spectra and a correlation with the technological variables were disclosed.