Graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus and graphene roll-to-roll coating method using the same

Abstract

There are provided a graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus and a graphene roll-to-roll coating method on the basis of a continuous process.

1 . A graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus, comprising:
 a first roller that supplies a metallic member in a roll-to-roll manner;   a pre-treating unit that performs a surface treatment on the metallic member supplied through the first roller;   a graphene forming unit that forms and simultaneously coates graphene on a surface of the pretreated metallic member; and   a second roller that collects the metallic member coated with the graphene in a roll-to-roll mechanism after the metallic member passes through the graphene forming unit.   
     
     
         2 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 a cooling unit that cools the graphene-coated metallic member prior to collecting the metallic member coated with the graphene by the second roller.   
     
     
         3 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the first roller, the pre-treating unit, the graphene forming unit, the cooling unit and the second roller are vertically or horizontally arranged. 
     
     
         4 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the pre-treating unit performs, on the surface of the metallic member supplied from the first roller, a process selected from a group consisting of a plasma process, a laser process, pre-heating and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         5 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein the metallic member includes a metallic pipe, a metallic plate, a metallic sheet, a metallic wire or a metallic foil. 
     
     
         6 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 1 , wherein each of the pre-treating unit and the graphene forming unit has a chamber shape. 
     
     
         7 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the chamber of each of the pre-treating unit and the graphene forming unit has a partition wall. 
     
     
         8 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising a roller provided at an inlet and/or an outlet of the pre-treating unit having the chamber shape. 
     
     
         9 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 6 , further comprising a roller provided at an inlet and/or an outlet of the graphene forming unit having the chamber shape. 
     
     
         10 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the graphene forming unit having the chamber shape includes one or more gas nozzles. 
     
     
         11 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 6 , wherein the graphene forming unit having the chamber shape includes a temperature controllable heating source. 
     
     
         12 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein the pre-treating unit, the graphene forming unit and the cooling unit have tube shapes and are arrange so as to communicate with each other. 
     
     
         13 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 12 , further comprising:
 a first gas inlet formed between the first roller and the pre-treating unit;   a second gas inlet formed between the pre-treating unit and the graphene forming unit;   a third gas inlet formed between the graphene forming unit and the cooing unit; and   a firs gas outlet formed between the cooling unit and the second roller.   
     
     
         14 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein the first roller is provided with a fourth gas inlet for supplying a gas into the inside of the metallic member, and the second roller is provided with a second gas inlet for exiting the gas from the inside of the metallic member. 
     
     
         15 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein each of the pre-treating unit and the graphene forming unit has a temperature controllable heating jacket, and the cooling unit has a temperature controllable cooling jacket. 
     
     
         16 . A graphene roll-to-roll coating method using a graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus as claimed in  claim 1 , the method comprising:
 supplying a metallic member from a first roller to a pre-treating unit in a roll-to-roll manner;   performing a surface treatment on the metallic member supplied through the first roller in the pre-treating unit;   transferring the metallic member into the graphene forming unit to form and simultaneously to coat graphene on a surface of the pre-treated metallic member; and   collecting the metallic member coated with the graphene by a second roller in a roll-to-roll manner after the metallic member passes through the graphene forming unit.   
     
     
         17 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , further comprising:
 transferring the graphene-coated metallic member into the cooling unit to cool the graphen-coated metallic member before the graphen-coated metallic member is collected by the second roller.   
     
     
         18 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein the metallic member includes a metal or metal alloy selected from a group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Pt, Au, Al, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Rh, Si, Ta, Ti, W, U, V, Zr, brass, bronze, white brass, stainless steel, Ge and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         19 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein a metallic catalyst layer is formed on the surface of the metallic member. 
     
     
         20 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 19 , wherein the metallic catalyst layer includes a metal or metal alloy selected from a group consisting of Ni, Co, Fe, Pt, Au, Al, Cr, Cu, Mg, Mn, Mo, Rh, Si, Ta, Ti, W, U, V, Zr, brass, white brass, bronze, stainless steel, Ge and a combination thereof. 
     
     
         21 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein, in the process of forming and simultaneously coating the graphene on the surface of the metallic member, the graphene is formed and simultaneously coated on the surface of the metallic member by chemical vapor deposition by supplying a reactant gas containing a carbon source through a gas nozzle in the graphene forming unit having a chamber shape. 
     
     
         22 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein a reducing gas is supplied through a first gas inlet formed between the first roller and the pre-treating unit. 
     
     
         23 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein the graphene is formed and simultaneously coated on the surface of the metallic member by chemical vapor deposition by supplying a reactant gas containing a carbon source for forming graphene through a second gas inlet formed between the pre-treating unit and the graphene forming unit. 
     
     
         24 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein a reactant gas containing a carbon source for forming graphene is supplied into the inside of the metallic member through a first gas inlet provided in the first roller so that additional graphene is formed and simultaneously coated on an internal surface of the metallic member. 
     
     
         25 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 16 , wherein a purge gas is supplied through a third gas inlet formed between the graphene forming unit and the cooling unit. 
     
     
         26 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 17 , wherein a gas having passed through the pre-treating unit, the graphene forming unit and the cooling unit is exited through a first gas outlet formed between the cooling unit and the second roller. 
     
     
         27 . The graphene roll-to-roll coating method of  claim 17 , further comprising:
 forming multi-layered graphene on the metallic member by performing a series of processes one or more times,   wherein the series of processes include:   forming a metallic catalyst layer on the surface of the graphene-coated metallic member collected by the second roller; and   forming and simultaneously coating additional graphene on the graphene-coated metallic member on which the metallic catalyst layer by using the graphene roll-to-roll coating apparatus.   
     
     
         28 . A metallic member coated with graphene, formed by a graphene roll-to-roll coating method as claimed in  claim 16 . 
     
     
         29 . The metallic member of  claim 28 , wherein the metallic member is used as a heat pipe or a heat plate.