Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene/ITO Nanoparticle Hybrid Transparent Conducting Electrode

Abstract

The combination of graphene with conductive nanoparticles, forming graphene–nanoparticle hybrid materials, offers a number of excellent properties for advanced engineering applications. A novel and simple method was developed to deposit 10 wt% tin-doped indium tin oxide (ITO) nanoparticles on graphene. The method involved a combination of a solution-based environmentally friendly electroless deposition approach and subsequent vacuum annealing. A stable organic-free solution of ITO was prepared from economical salts of In(NO3)3·H2O and SnCl4. The obtained ITO nanostructure exhibited a unique architecture, with uniformly dispersed 25–35 nm size ITO nanoparticles, containing only the crystallized In2O3 phase. The synthesized ITO nanoparticles–graphene hybrid exhibited very good and reproducible optical transparency in the visible range (more than 85%) and a 28.2% improvement in electrical conductivity relative to graphene synthesized by chemical vapor deposition. It was observed that the ITO nanoparticles affect the position of the Raman signal of graphene, in which the D, G, and 2D peaks were redshifted by 5.65, 5.69, and 9.74 cm−1, respectively, and the annealing conditions had no significant effect on the Raman signatures of graphene.

Cross-linked PEDOT: PSS as an alternative for low-cost solution-processed electronic devices

“…al produced PLECs using silver-nanowires/single-walled-carbon-nanotubes bilayer as bottom electrode and silver-paste as top electrode [16]. These recent discoveries pushed the development of solution processed electrodes, mainly using hot materials, such as graphene, carbon-nanotubes and metallic nanostructures as active materials [15,[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27].…”

Transparent Conductive Electrodes Based on Graphene-Related Materials

“…Therefore, various methods have been devised for transferring graphene without a support layer, which are called “polymer-free” methods as described in Figure 3; for example, a thermal release tape-assisted transfer, using a tape with specific adhesives that strongly adheres to substrates at room temperature while losing adhesion at high temperature, and a metal-assisted transfer method, using a metal as a protective layer instead of a polymer [83,85]. In particular, the thermal release tape-assisted transfer method is likely to be suitable for large-scale production because it can inherit the roll-to-roll (R2R) production process for graphene growth [62,63]. For instance, Bae et al have successfully demonstrated the R2R production and coating of CVD graphene onto flexible substrate using a thermal release tape-assisted transfer method (Figure 2) [12].…”

“…Transparent conductive oxides, such as ITO and aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), are widely used in electrodes, however the rigidity of these materials has limited their use as flexible electrodes. There have been attempts to improve the mechanical properties of ITO by fabricating a hybrid electrode using graphene and ITO [61,62]. Liu et al demonstrated that the graphene/ITO hybrid electrodes showed a resistance change (ΔR/R 0 ) of 17.78 after 20% tensile strain; meanwhile, the (non-hybrid) ITO electrode showed a resistance change of 125.91.…”

“…Another approach for the hybridization of graphene with ITO was the uniform dispersal of ITO nanoparticles with a size of 25–35 nm on CVD graphene, which is synthesized by the immersion of graphene into aqueous ITO sol-gel. The ITO nanoparticle-decorated graphene exhibited a decrease in sheet resistance of about 28.2% relative to that of CVD graphene, owing to the electron doping of graphene that is induced by the ITO nanoparticles [62].…”

In Situ Atomic-Level Studies of Gd Atom Release and Migration on Graphene from a Metallofullerene Precursor

“…5,21-3 23 Importantly, doping can lead to changes in the conductivity, magnetism, transparency, and catalytic response. 6 Many of these systems have been studied at atomic resolution using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) 24,25 and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). Annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy (ADF-STEM) can provide non-linear Z-dependent contrast that helps to discriminate the dopant from the C lattice with higher contrast than phase contrast TEM, however phase contrast TEM enables the dynamics to be observed at much faster time scales.…”