Abstract
Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has enabled two-dimensional (2D) materials and their heterostructures to become promising material platforms for next-generation electronics and photonic devices. However, the robust processing of 2D materials produced by CVD is currently hindered by the lack of a scalable and reliable technique to transfer materials from their growth substrates to target substrates for end applications. Here we introduced an automated system to enable the transfer of CVD-grown 2D materials with robotics by engineering the interfacial adhesion and strain. The developed automated transfer system shows industrial compatibility, as demonstrated by the high production capability (up to 180 wafers per day), reliable transfer quality (with transferred graphene carrier mobilities over 14,000 cm2 V−1 s−1), and high uniformity and repeatability of the transferred materials. The developed system also outperforms conventional manual transfer methods in terms of minimizing cost and environmental impact. This automated system could accelerate the research and commercialization of 2D materials in the future.
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Data availability
A more complete set of data including the code is accessible via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27896352 (ref. 65). Source data are provided with this paper.
Code availability
Code associated with the automated spin-coating machine and the automated lamination and delamination machine is available via figshare at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.27896352 (ref. 65).
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Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (nos T2188101 and 52372038) and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (nos 2024YFE0202200, 2022YFA1204900 and 2023YFB3609900), Science and Technology Development Fund, Macau SAR (0107/2024/AMJ). We acknowledge the Molecular Materials and Nanofabrication Laboratory (MMNL) in the College of Chemistry and Peking Nanofab, Peking University, for the use of instruments, and thank the Materials Processing and Analysis Center, Peking University, for assistance with Raman characterization.
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Contributions
L.L. and Z.L. conceived the experiment. L.L., Z.L. and B.M. supervised the project. Y. Zhao, J.L., Z.H., Q.Z., G.C., Q.L., M.S. and B.G. conducted the transfer of 2D materials onto the target substrates. Y. Zhao, Z.H., Q.Z. and Q.X. took and analyzed the OM, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and AFM data. J.L. and Y. Zhao conducted the Raman and PL measurements on the transferred 2D materials. Y. Zhao and J.L. performed the device fabrication and electrical measurements. Y. Zhao and G.W. conducted the film stress measurement. S.B. conducted the calculation of adhesion energies. Y. Zhao and Z.H. conducted the transmission electron microscopy characterization and analysis. K.J. conducted the CVD growth of graphene. J.H. and Y. Zhang conducted the growth of MoS2. Y. Zhao, B.M., E.E. and M.G. conducted the LCA and technoeconomic analyses. All authors discussed the results and wrote the paper.
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Nature Chemical Engineering thanks Timothy J. Booth, Kuangye Lu and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work
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Supplementary Figs. 1–23 and Tables 1–12.
Supplementary Video 1
Manual-bubbling-based wet transfer process works with the assistance of PMMA.
Supplementary Video 2
Manual transfer including the polycarbonate-assisted exfoliation of graphene from a growth substrate and the removal of polycarbonate by chloroform.
Supplementary Video 3
Automated spin-coating process based on the automated spin coater built in-house.
Supplementary Video 4
Lamination and delamination processes based on the automated laminating and delaminating machine built in-house.
Supplementary Video 5
Lamination and delamination processes based on the automated laminating and delaminating machine for the transfer of a 4-inch MoS2.
Source data
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Statistical source data.
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Statistical source data.
Source Data Fig. 5
Statistical source data.
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Zhao, Y., Liao, J., Bu, S. et al. Automated processing and transfer of two-dimensional materials with robotics. Nat Chem Eng 2, 296–308 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-025-00227-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44286-025-00227-5
