The direct growth of uniform graphene disks and their continuous film is achieved by exploiting the molten state of glass. The use of molten glass enables highly uniform nucleation and an enhanced growth rate (tenfold) of graphene, as compared to those scenarios on commonly used insulating solids. The obtained graphene glasses show promising application potentials in daily-life scenarios such as smart heating devices and biocompatible cell culture mediums.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/adma.201504229/abstract

Molten bed

Nature Materials 14, 1186 (2015) doi:10.1038/nmat4502

A critical challenge in realizing the applications potential held by graphene is the ability to synthesize large-area and high-quality sheets. Chemical vapour deposition is an attractive approach for this, and relies on the use of a typically crystalline metallic substrate. Zhongfan Liu and co-workers now take a different approach. They grow high-quality graphene disks on molten soda-lime-silica glass, achieving rapid nucleation and growth rates due to energy input from the thermally-softened substrate. A particular advantage of the glassy substrate is that its isotropic nature means that graphene nucleation is not favoured at specific sites. Instead, graphene disks nucleate homogeneously and converge to form a continuous film. The authors additionally demonstrate that their 'glassy graphene' could find use in smart heating devices. Such a synthesis strategy is ironically similar to that used for the production of soda-lime-silica glass for windows, in which it floats on a bed of molten tin, to achieve a smooth surface finish.

http://www.nature.com/nmat/journal/v14/n12/full/nmat4502.html

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