Toward Charge Neutralization of CVD Graphene

We report the systematic study to reduce extrinsic doping in graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). To investigate the effect of crystallinity of graphene on the extent of the extrinsic doping, graphene samples with different levels of crystal quality: poly-crystalline and single-crystalline graphene (PCG and SCG), are employed. The graphene suspended in air is almost undoped regardless of its crystallinity, whereas graphene placed on an SiO2/Si substrate is spontaneously p-doped. The extent of p-doping from the SiO2 substrate in SCG is slightly lower than that in PCG, implying that the defects in graphene play roles in charge transfer. However, after annealing treatment, both PCG and SCG are heavily p-doped due to increased interaction with the underlying substrate. Extrinsic doping dramatically decreases after annealing treatment when PCG and SCG are placed on the top of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) substrate, confirming that h-BN is the ideal substrate for reducing extrinsic doping in CVD graphene.