Influence of Surface Texture and Composition on Graphene Growth by Chemical Vapor Deposition on Cu–Ni Alloys for Field Emission Application

The present investigation is aimed to find a thread between various surface textures of polycrystalline Cu–Ni alloys, in cold-rolled and annealed conditions, and the nature of graphene, grown by the chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method, on these substrates. High-quality graphene grown on Cu–Ni alloys was transferred to various nanostructures, such as CuO nanorods and carbon nanotubes, for field emission application. In this work, Cu–Ni (100Cu–0Ni, 84.65Cu–15.35Ni, 72.6Cu–27.4Ni, and 63Cu–37Ni) alloy buttons were prepared by arc melting, and texture in the samples were engineered by cold rolling (plastic deformation) and annealing (recrystallization) processes. Study of surface texture by X-ray method demonstrates characteristically different deformation and recrystallization texture components, compared to conventional rolling and annealing textures. The evolution of texture has been explained based on the effects of surface friction, shear stress, and addition of Ni. Unusual appearance of {111} orientations, though less in volume, after annealing at 1000 °C, was observed in Cu–Ni alloys through the suppression of cube texture component. The underlying deformation and recrystallization mechanisms are explained through the changes in strain hardening, extended recovery, and continuous recrystallization effects. The effects of Ni content are correlated with the number of graphene layers, while an increase in the fraction of {111} orientations could be linked with defect density in graphene layers. Results of the present study will be motivating for selection of various polycrystalline Cu–Ni alloys, with different surface textures, for controlling quality of graphene, synthesized by the chemical vapor deposition method.