TY - JOUR A1 - Krauß, Peter A1 - Engstler, Jörg A1 - Schneider, Jörg J. T1 - A systematic study of the controlled generation of crystalline iron oxide nanoparticles on graphene using a chemical etching process JF - Beilstein Journal of Nanotechnology PY - 2017/// VL - 8 SP - 2017 EP - 2025 SN - 2190-4286 DO - 10.3762/bjnano.8.202 PB - Beilstein-Institut JA - Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. UR - https://doi.org/10.3762/bjnano.8.202 KW - carbon nanotubes KW - chemical vapor deposition KW - graphene KW - iron oxide KW - nanoparticles N2 - Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of carbon precursors employing a metal catalyst is a well-established method for synthesizing high-quality single-layer graphene. Yet the main challenge of the CVD process is the required transfer of a graphene layer from the substrate surface onto a chosen target substrate. This process is delicate and can severely degrade the quality of the transferred graphene. The protective polymer coatings typically used generate residues and contamination on the ultrathin graphene layer. In this work, we have developed a graphene transfer process which works without a coating and allows the transfer of graphene onto arbitrary substrates without the need for any additional post-processing. During the course of our transfer studies, we found that the etching process that is usually employed can lead to contamination of the graphene layer with the Faradaic etchant component FeCl3, resulting in the deposition of iron oxide FexOy nanoparticles on the graphene surface. We systematically analyzed the removal of the copper substrate layer and verified that crystalline iron oxide nanoparticles could be generated in controllable density on the graphene surface when this process is optimized. It was further confirmed that the FexOy particles on graphene are active in the catalytic growth of carbon nanotubes when employing a water-assisted CVD process. ER -