Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene

This chapter summarizes the graphene synthesis processes, including mechanical, chemical, and epitaxial growth process together with the detailed discussion of process parameters and their feasibility. Chemical synthesis of graphene is a top-down indirect synthesis method of graphene and, more preciously, first ever method that demonstrated the graphene synthesis by chemical route. The chapter introduces a bottom-up approach of chemical synthesis of graphene, named as solvothermal method. Epitaxial thermal synthesis process of graphene on single-crystalline silicon carbide (SiC) surface is one of the most renowned synthesis processes. The chapter summarizes the characterization methods based on various microscopic and spectroscopic techniques, which are basically used to evaluate graphene fingerprints. Despite the presence of noninvasive techniques such as optical and Raman spectroscopy, high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) is one of the very powerful, frequently used, reliable characterization techniques for graphene's structural characterizations.