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Scalable growth of vertical graphene nanosheets by thermal chemical vapor deposition

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Abstract

Vertical graphene nanosheets (VGSs) are a kind of graphene materials, which retain the inherent advantages of graphene and effectively overcome the stacking bottleneck displayed by traditional graphene. The scalable production of VGSs may help the development of devices such as field-effect transistors, sensors, biomedical materials, electrochemical energy storage, thermal conductive materials and catalyst supports. The thermal chemical vapor deposition (CVD) approach has become a mature, efficient and highly valuable industrial strategy for VGSs fabrication. This technique imposes no restrictions on the morphology and size of the substrate and has high yield and low equipment cost, making it suitable for scalable industrial applications. Here we detail the step-by-step instructions for growing VGSs on a variety of common substrates such as carbon nanofibers, carbon fibers and Si particles using the thermal CVD approach. The scalability of thermal CVD could help advance the development of industrial applications of VGSs composite materials. The procedure requires a total of 136 h and 45 min to successfully produce VGSs on C and Si substrates, followed by a comprehensive characterization of the nanosheets. The procedure is suitable for users with expertise in chemistry or materials science.

Key points

  • In this Protocol, we describe the synthesis of vertical graphene nanosheets (VGSs) via scalable thermal chemical vapor deposition using a tubular furnace in which C or Si materials are placed for heating, with CH4 and H2 introduced at high temperatures to enable a chemical reaction that in situ forms VGSs on the substrate surface.

  • The VGSs exhibit high conductivity, sensitivity and biocompatibility, making them suitable for applications in diverse fields.

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Fig. 1: Schematic illustrations of the thermal CVD method for the growth of VGSs on CNFs or CFs and Si.
Fig. 2: The thermal CVD experimental setup.
Fig. 3: Photographs of the thermal CVD products.
Fig. 4: The SEM images of thermal CVD products.
Fig. 5: The TEM images of thermal CVD products.
Fig. 6: The XRD pattern of thermal CVD products.
Fig. 7: The Raman spectra of thermal CVD products.

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Data availability

The main data supporting the findings of this study were previously published in refs. 24,37,45. The additional data are supplemented in the Supplementary Information or are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

All authors acknowledge supports from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 52172084), the Talent Recruitment Project of Guangdong Province (grant no. 2019QN01C883) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Program (grant nos. RCJC20231211090017038 and JCYJ20220818102402004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Material Science and Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, University Town, Shenzhen, China

    Quan Wu  (吴泉), Peilun Yu  (于培伦), Yuchao Cao  (曹玉超), Zhenwei Li  (李振伟), Jie Yu  (于杰) & Yan Huang  (黄燕)

  2. Shenzhen Engineering Lab for Supercapacitor Materials, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Optoelectronic Materials and Intelligent Photonic Systems, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Quan Wu  (吴泉), Peilun Yu  (于培伦), Yuchao Cao  (曹玉超), Zhenwei Li  (李振伟) & Jie Yu  (于杰)

  3. College of Automobile and Mechanical Engineering, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China

    Xixi Ji  (吉希希)

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  1. Quan Wu  (吴泉)
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Contributions

Q.W. drafted the manuscript. X.J. and P.Y. discussed the section of anticipated results. Y.C. and Z.L. contributed to the collection and adaption of the figures. Y.H. and J.Y. developed the protocol and modified the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jie Yu  (于杰) or Yan Huang  (黄燕).

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Nature Protocols thanks Stefanos Chaitoglou and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Key references

Zeng, J. et al. Adv. Mater. 30, 1705380 (2018): https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201705380

Ji, X. et al. Nat. Commun. 12, 1380 (2021): https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21742-y

Yu, P. et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 35, 2413081 (2025): https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202413081

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Figs. 1–5 and references.

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Wu, Q., Ji, X., Yu, P. et al. Scalable growth of vertical graphene nanosheets by thermal chemical vapor deposition. Nat Protoc (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41596-025-01219-8

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