Research Article Graphene Synthesis Using a CVD Reactor and a Discontinuous Feed of Gas Precursor at Atmospheric Pressure A. Moreno-Bárcenas, 1 J. F. Perez-Robles, 1 Y. V. Vorobiev, 1 N. Ornelas-Soto, 2 A. Mexicano, 3 and A. G. García 4 1 Centro de Investigaci´ on y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Polit´ ecnico Nacional, Real de Juriquilla, 76230 Santiago de Quer´ etaro, QRO, Mexico 2 Laboratorio de Nanotecnolog´ ıa Ambiental, Tecnol´ ogico de Monterrey, Escuela de Ingenier´ ıa y Ciencias, Ave. Eugenio Garza Sada 2501, 64849 Monterrey, NL, Mexico 3 Instituto Tecnol´ ogico de Cd. Victoria, Boulevard Emilio Portes Gil No. 1301, Pte. A.P. 175, 87010 Ciudad Victoria, TAMPS, Mexico 4 Laboratorio de S´ ıntesis y Modifcaci´ on de Nanoestructuras y Materiales Bidimensionales, Centro de Investigaci´ on en Materiales Avanzados S.C., Alianza Norte No. 202, Parque PIIT, 66628 Apodaca, NL, Mexico Correspondence should be addressed to A. G. Garc´ ıa; alejandra.garcia@cimav.edu.mx Received 18 October 2017; Revised 26 January 2018; Accepted 30 January 2018; Published 18 March 2018 Academic Editor: Victor M. Casta˜ no Copyright © 2018 A. Moreno-B´ arcenas et al. Tis is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Te present work shows a new method in order to cost-efectively achieve the synthesis of graphene by Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD). Unlike most usual processes, where precursors such as argon, H 2 , CH 4 , and high purity copper foil are used, the proposed method has replaced the previous ones by N 2 ,N 2 (90%) : H 2 (10%), C 2 H 2 , and electrolytic copper (technical grade) since the use of industrialized precursors helps reduce production costs. On the other hand, the process was modifed from a continuous fow system with vacuum to a discontinuous one at atmospheric pressure, eliminating the use of vacuum pump. In addition, this modifcation optimized the consumption of gases, which reduced the waste and the emission of pollutant gases into the atmosphere. Graphene flms were grown under diferent gas fowrates and temperatures. Ten, the obtained material was characterized by TEM, Raman spectroscopy, and AFM, confrming the presence of few graphene layers. In brief, the growth time was reduced to six minutes with acetylene as a carbon precursor at 1000 ∘ C and at atmospheric pressure, with a fow rate of 30 sccm. Finally, the reported conditions can be used for the synthesis of good quality graphene flms in industrial applications. 1. Introduction Graphene is a two-dimensional material with sp 2 hybridiza- tion and carbon atoms in a honeycomb arrangement [1, 2]. Nevertheless, it was not until 2004, afer its isola- tion by mechanical exfoliation, that electric properties of a monolayer were published [3], followed by many other studies that showed extremely interesting properties, such as electronic mobility in room temperature higher than 2.105 cm 2 V −1 S −1 , Young’s Modulus of 1TPa, thermal con- ductivity above 3000 WmK −1 , 2.3% of optical absorption, and the capacity to be functionalized by a wide range of organic groups [4–6]. Hence, graphene is a material with a broad range of applications from mechanical, electrical, and optical applications to medical ones [5, 7]. Several methods have been used to prepare graphene, including graphite micromechanical exfoliation, epitaxial growth over SiC, graphite oxide reduction, and CVD [8] with the unique purpose to obtain large areas and more production [9, 10]. Terefore considering its high productivity, CVD is one of the most promising processes to grow high quality graphene in large areas [11–13]. Accordingly, in recent years a consid- erable efort has been done to optimize the process, improve the kind of substrate, and control graphene growth [12, 14]. In initial experiments to form graphene, CVD systems with methane as the carbon precursor and hydrogen as a balancing gas were used and are still commonly used today. Tereafer, atmospheric pressure CVD (AP-CVD) or other Hindawi Journal of Nanomaterials Volume 2018, Article ID 3457263, 11 pages https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/3457263