Synthesis and characterization of graphene from waste cooking palm oil at different deposition temperatures

Abstract

The synthesis of graphene by double thermal chemical vapor deposition using waste cooking palm oil (WCPO) as a natural carbon source was investigated. The WCPO was placed in the first furnace (precursor furnace) and nickel was placed in the second furnace (deposition furnace). The deposition temperatures were varied from 850°C to 1100°C by 50°C increments. The formation of the graphene on the Ni surface appears due to segregation and precipitation of high amount of carbon from the source material during the cooling process. It was found that raising the deposition temperatures was lead to the changed of shapes and different densities of the samples. FESEM images at optimum temperature (1000°C) display hexagonal shapes since the graphene layers were formed after precipitation of the carbon. Furthermore, XRD analysis was employed to distinguish the presence of graphene on Ni substrate. Meanwhile, the interlayer distance, number of layers, crystalline size and impurity composition were compared by simple XRD pattern. At an optimum deposition temperature, the Raman result shows that the I2D/IG ratio (0.36), which indicates that sample is multi-layer graphene.