Patent ID: 8647918

Claim:
A method for forming graphene material on a surface, comprising the steps of: forming a material substrate; depositing a metal material layer on the material substrate, the metal material layer being composed of a metal material comprising one of a patterned metal material and a nanoparticle metal material, having a bottom surface in contact with the material substrate and further having a top surface and at least one side surface not in contact with the material substrate; applying a heating cycle to the metal material layer so that the vapor pressure of the metal material is sufficient to cause metal atoms to be desorbed from the top surface of the metal material layer into an ambient atmosphere above a top surface of the material substrate; introducing carbon atoms or carbon-containing molecules into the ambient atmosphere so that both metal atoms and carbon atoms or carbon-containing molecules are present in the ambient atmosphere at the same time to form a carbon-containing ambient, wherein carbon from the carbon-containing ambient is deposited on the material substrate as graphene to form seed graphene material on the top surface of the material substrate, the seed graphene material having a plurality of bonding sites on an edge thereof; and continuing the heating cycle while the surface of the material substrate is further exposed to the carbon atoms or carbon-containing ambient; wherein the carbon bonds with the seed graphene material at the bonding sites to laterally grow graphene material (GM) on the top surface of the material substrate.