Rapid thermal annealing of nickel-carbon nanowires for graphene nanoribbons formation

•Novel method for synthesis of graphene nanoribbons from nickel-carbon nanowires was developed.•Graphene quantum dots were used as a carbon source.•Nickel-carbon nanowires were subjected to rapid thermal annealing at different temperatures.•Graphene nanoribbons exhibit blue photoluminescence at 446nm. In this paper, we present a novel method for graphene nanoribbons formation using nickel nanowires as templates. Modification of electrochemical procedure for nickel nanowires synthesis was introduced by implementing graphene quantum dots as a carbon source. Thus, nickel nanowires with graphene quantum dots were prepared. These wires were exposed to rapid thermal annealing at high temperatures (500°C, 700°C and 800°C). During this process carbon atoms dissolve in metal and precipitate to the nickel surface forming nickel-carbon nanowires. Atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy were characterization methods used for analysis of changes in nickel-carbon nanowires properties depending on the different annealing temperatures. After etching nickel with nitric acid, graphene nanoribbons with average diameters of 32nm and average lengths of 4μm were obtained.