Strong solvents help. Using dichloromethane works better than acetone, and chloroform works better than dichloromethane. However, there is no way to fully remove the layer post transfer by dissolution alone. A forming gas (Ar/H2) anneal helps in decomposing the PMMA into monomers. Some PMMA strands will remain. It depends on how you cross-linked/cured the PMMA.
Your best bet is to use an alternative polymer for support. We have some forthcoming results on that front which we are going to put into a preprint. Once it is submitted, I would be happy to share it with you.
@ Joshua
I'm using PMMA which have Molecular weight 120K. But 960K reported. Is there any link between solubility , strength with molecular weight?
Thanking you. I'm waiting for your result.
@Joshua,
"Alternative polymer scaffolds for clean transfer of CVD-grown graphene"
Is it your result, for which you asked me to wait? If yes (I think so), I need details. Can you provide me?
If you are still transferring using PMMA, then acetic acid is a better choice than acetone. It is very effective in cleaning PMMA. There is no 100% cleaning in solvents. If you clean graphene in acetone then it requires extensive heating in H2/Ar or vacuum. However, using acetic acid, annealing time is reduced to a great extend (may be not required).
Dear All,
At the end, I got my answer from recently published article
Optimized graphene transfer: Influence of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) layer concentration and baking time on graphene final performance by Barina et al.
Carbon 84(2015), 82–90
doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2014.11.040
Really nice work. This article will help a lot to researcher like me who are suffering to get PMMA free CVD graphene on desired substrates.
another interesting article in this aspect by Dr. Wood
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270826710_Annealing_free_clean_graphene_transfer_using_alternative_polymer_scaffolds
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/270960806_Supplementary-Annealing_free_clean_graphene_transfer_using_alternative_polymer_scaffolds-Nanotechnology-2015
Article Annealing free, clean graphene transfer using alternative po...
Data Supplementary-Annealing free, clean graphene transfer using ...
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