Large-scale pattern growth of graphene films for stretchable transparent electrodes

Abstract

Problems associated with large-scale pattern growth of graphene constitute one of the main obstacles to using this material in device applications. Recently, macroscopic-scale graphene films were prepared by two-dimensional assembly of graphene sheets chemically derived from graphite crystals and graphene oxides. However, the sheet resistance of these films was found to be much larger than theoretically expected values. Here we report the direct synthesis of large-scale graphene films using chemical vapour deposition on thin nickel layers, and present two different methods of patterning the films and transferring them to arbitrary substrates. The transferred graphene films show very low sheet resistance of approximately 280 Omega per square, with approximately 80 per cent optical transparency. At low temperatures, the monolayers transferred to silicon dioxide substrates show electron mobility greater than 3,700 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and exhibit the half-integer quantum Hall effect, implying that the quality of graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition is as high as mechanically cleaved graphene. Employing the outstanding mechanical properties of graphene, we also demonstrate the macroscopic use of these highly conducting and transparent electrodes in flexible, stretchable, foldable electronics.

Structure of graphene and its disorders: a review

“…graphite exfoliation [6] and reduction of GO [305]) and bottom–up methods (e.g. epitaxial growth [306] and CVD [17,21]). Although mechanical exfoliation of HPOG by using Scotch tape allows the preparation of ultra-clean free-standing monolayer graphene, this method is extremely labor intensive and remains unfeasible for the production of large-area graphene sheets.…”

“…However, the produced graphene strongly interacts with the substrate, hindering fabrication of electrically isolated monolayer graphene. On the other hand, CVD growth of graphene on catalytic metals, such as Cu [21] and Ni [17,21,311], is a promising approach for efficient large-scale production of defect-free graphene with controllable number of layers. Moreover, the resulting monolayer graphene can be easily transferred to arbitrary substrates [312].…”

“…Due to the internal exceptionally high crystal quality [8,9] and massless Dirac fermions [10], monolayer graphene exhibits anomalous half integer quantum Hall effect [11], remarkable optical properties [12,13], ultra-high intrinsic strength [14], superior thermal conductivity [15] and extremely high charge carrier mobility [6,16,17]. It is referred to as a zero-gap semiconductor, showing an exceptionally high concentration of charge carriers and ballistic transport because of the unique Dirac cone band structure near the Fermi level.…”

“…Such graphene coated glass held good promise for thermochromic windows that benefit from the light interference effect of the changing layer thickness [24]. Due to the excellent bendability and high electrical conductivity, graphene can be adopted as an appropriate transparent electrode material [17,25]. The unique optical and electrical properties allows graphene to be applied to various optoelectronic devices, ranging from solar cells to touch screens [26].…”

Flexible Photodetectors Based on 1D Inorganic Nanostructures

“…Stretchable electronic devices have great advances for implantable devices in the human body 164, 165, 166. Stretchable devices, such as pressure sensors, gas sensors and PDs, could also be used in industry, bio‐organs, and under harsh environments 167, 168, 169, 170.…”