LAUSR

The purity and morphology of the copper surface is important for the synthesis of high-quality, large-grained graphene by chemical vapor deposition. We find that atomically smooth copper foils—fabricated by physical vapor deposition and subsequent electroplating of copper on silicon wafer templates—exhibit strongly reduced surface roughness after the annealing of the copper catalyst, and correspondingly lower nucleation and defect density of the graphene film, when compared to commercial cold-rolled copper foils. The “ultrafoils”—ultraflat foils—facilitate easier dry pickup and encapsulation of graphene by hexagonal boron nitride, which we believe is due to the lower roughness of the catalyst surface promoting a conformal interface and subsequent stronger van der Waals adhesion between graphene and hexagonal boron nitride.