Transparent conductive film of polyvinyl alcohol: reduced graphene oxide composite

Abstract

The interest in the research for transparent conductive materials has intensified the last years due to the fascinating optical and electrical properties of graphene and its derivatives. Several efforts have shown that the substitution of indium doped tin oxide with graphene derivatives or hybrids will be possible in the near future. However, up to now, a simple and effective method to prepare competitive transparent conductive films (TCFs) based on graphene has not yet been established. In this article, we present a new procedure, which combines simple, economic and scalable steps to provide TCFs with high quality, uniformity, and stability. Our method is based on the deposition by drop casting, of a mixture of graphene oxide (GO) with polyvinyl alcohol on a glass substrate, the reduction of GO with vapors of triethylenetetramine and the doping with nitric acid. The achieved conductivity of the as prepared TCFs is comparable with those of others from the literature, however, our method has the advantages of the simplicity, low cost and scalability, and stability.