We have developed a simple method to reversibly decouple the graphene form a metal substrate by Na intercalation. This strategy is based on the photo-dissociation of a previously adsorbed NaCl layer on graphene. Upon a short exposure to an X-Ray beam, the NaCl molecules break, the chlorine desorbs and the Na intercalates trough graphene inducing an electronic decoupling. The intercalation-decoupling process leads to a n-doped graphene due to the charge transfer from the Na. Moreover, the process is reversible by a mild annealing of the samples without damaging the graphene.
The work has been recently published in 2D Materials (Reversible Graphene decoupling by NaCl photo dissociation, I. Palacio et al. 2D Materials, Volume 6, Number 2 (2019)).