Abd. Wahidin Nuayi, Toto Winata, Fatimah Arofiati Noor
The structural evolution of multilayer graphene grown at 275 °C by hot-wire in plasma–very high frequency plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition was investigated as a function of Ni catalyst pre-annealing temperature. Raman spectroscopy reveals temperature-dependent variations in the D, G, and 2D bands, reflecting changes in defect density, inter-defect spacing, and stacking coherence induced by catalyst thermal treatment. A non-monotonic evolution of disorder is observed, with the highest defect density occurring at 300 °C, which is attributed to partial catalyst restructuring and enhanced nucleation activity. At higher pre-annealing temperatures, progressive grain stabilization promotes partial recovery of the lateral crystallite size while preserving the multilayer growth regime. The estimated defect density (∼1011 cm−2) indicates nanocrystalline graphene composed of interconnected sp2 domains. Optical transmittance measurements show a systematic increase in visible transparency with increasing catalyst annealing temperature, reaching a maximum at 450 °C, consistent with reduced structural disorder and improved interlayer ordering. These results highlight the critical role of catalyst pretreatment in regulating nucleation behavior and microstructural evolution during plasma-assisted graphene growth. © 2026 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
Physics of Materials Group, Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Universitas Negeri Gorontalo, Gorontalo, Indonesia; Physics and Technology of Advanced Materials Research Division, Department of Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Bandung, Indonesia
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