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Large-area ultrathin films of reduced graphene oxide as a transparent and flexible electronic material

Nature Nanotechnology volume 3, pages 270–274 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The integration of novel materials such as single-walled carbon nanotubes and nanowires into devices has been challenging, but developments in transfer printing and solution-based methods now allow these materials to be incorporated into large-area electronics1,2,3,4,5,6. Similar efforts are now being devoted to making the integration of graphene into devices technologically feasible7,8,9,10. Here, we report a solution-based method that allows uniform and controllable deposition of reduced graphene oxide thin films with thicknesses ranging from a single monolayer to several layers over large areas. The opto-electronic properties can thus be tuned over several orders of magnitude, making them potentially useful for flexible and transparent semiconductors or semi-metals. The thinnest films exhibit graphene-like ambipolar transistor characteristics, whereas thicker films behave as graphite-like semi-metals. Collectively, our deposition method could represent a route for translating the interesting fundamental properties of graphene into technologically viable devices.

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Figure 1: Thin films of solution-processed GO.
Figure 2: Characterization of reduced GO thin films using Raman spectroscopy.
Figure 3: Electrical and optical properties of reduced GO thin films.
Figure 4: TFT devices based on reduced GO thin films.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge Yun-Yue Lin and S. Miller for fabricating organic photovoltaic devices. A detailed study on the photovoltaic devices will be reported elsewhere. We also acknowledge A. Kanwal for help with the low-temperature measurements, and thank O. Celik for help with XPS analysis and A. Mann for allowing us the use of the Raman instrument. This work was funded by the National Science Foundation CAREER Award (ECS 0543867).

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  1. Materials Science and Engineering, Rutgers University, 607 Taylor Road, Piscataway, 08854, New Jersey, USA

    Goki Eda, Giovanni Fanchini & Manish Chhowalla

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  1. Goki Eda
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  2. Giovanni Fanchini
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  3. Manish Chhowalla
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Correspondence to Manish Chhowalla.

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Eda, G., Fanchini, G. & Chhowalla, M. Large-area ultrathin films of reduced graphene oxide as a transparent and flexible electronic material. Nature Nanotech 3, 270–274 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.83

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