Flexible
graphene transparent conductive films (TCFs) prepared
by chemical vapor deposition hold great promise for next-generation
wearable optoelectronic devices, but the lack of low-cost scalable
intact transfer and highly efficient doping greatly limits their commercialization.
Here, we report a UV-epoxy adhesive as a robust multifunctional layer
for the low-cost scalable production of high-performance flexible
graphene TCF. Its high solvent stability, sufficient adhesion force,
and conformal contact with graphene enable the intact bubbling transfer
of graphene. More importantly, a highly strong and stable p-dopant,
superacid HSbF6, is in situ generated from UV-epoxy. HSbF6 substantially increases the hole concentration of pristine
graphene by more than 10 times and consequently reduces its sheet
resistance by up to 95% with high stability. Furthermore, it can be
readily integrated with the roll-to-roll transfer process. These features
enable continuous production of graphene TCFs with overall performances
superior to those produced by common transfer methods and typical
dopants. As an example, we demonstrate the use of this film in the
capacitive multitouch panel of tablet computers.
Graphene has emerged as an attractive candidate for flexible transparent electrode (FTE) for a new generation of flexible optoelectronics. Despite tremendous potential and broad earlier interest, the promise of graphene FTE has been plagued by the intrinsic trade-off between electrical conductance and transparency with a figure of merit (σDC/σOp) considerably lower than that of the state-of-the-art ITO electrodes (σDC/σOp <123 for graphene vs. ∼240 for ITO). Here we report a synergistic electrical/optical modulation strategy to simultaneously boost the conductance and transparency. We show that a tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)boric acid (HTB) coating can function as highly effective hole doping layer to increase the conductance of monolayer graphene by sevenfold and at the same time as an anti-reflective layer to boost the visible transmittance to 98.8%. Such simultaneous improvement in conductance and transparency breaks previous limit in graphene FTEs and yields an unprecedented figure of merit (σDC/σOp ∼323) that rivals the best commercial ITO electrode. Using the tailored monolayer graphene as the flexible anode, we further demonstrate high-performance green organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with the maximum current, power and external quantum efficiencies (111.4 cd A−1, 124.9 lm W−1 and 29.7%) outperforming all comparable flexible OLEDs and surpassing that with standard rigid ITO by 43%. This study defines a straightforward pathway to tailor optoelectronic properties of monolayer graphene and to fully capture their potential as a generational FTE for flexible optoelectronics.
Efficient electrochemical bubbling delamination is highly promising for realizing the scalable transfer of high‐quality chemical vapor deposition (CVD) graphene film. However, it remains a challenge to significantly improve the low delamination rate of large‐area graphene without causing structural damage. Here, a strain‐engineering strategy is reported to break this rate‐integrity dilemma by introducing appreciable compressive strain into graphene to dramatically accelerate the delamination of CVD graphene from Cu foil in a non‐destructive manner. An astonishing 25‐fold improvement in the delamination rate is achieved by hot bubbling graphene coated with a post‐cured UV‐epoxy adhesive. Meanwhile, the inherent structural integrity of delaminated graphene films is well preserved. The strategy is superior to the prevalent methods by simultaneously realizing the unprecedented high‐rate delamination and intact transfer. It is further demonstrated that it allows the highly efficient roll‐to‐roll bubbling transfer of meter‐scale high‐quality graphene films.
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