Graphene islands mixed to carbon nanostructures grown on TiN film: A multi-techniques characterization approach

By using a variety of experimental techniques, we were able to reveal the presence of few percent of well-ordered graphene islands mixed to disordered carbon, isolated carbon tubes, and flakes. The sample were synthesized on a metallic TiN film using catalytic chemical vapor deposition and characterized by scanning electron microscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and K-resolved inverse photoemission spectroscopy. Because of the metallic TiN support and the presence of well-ordered one or two layers graphene islands, the so grown carbon nanostructures (CNs) can be used in many applications. Our results indicate that a multi-techniques approach is fundamental to fully characterize CNs.