Graphene could be used one day in large-area thin film electronics

Researchers at the Nanomaterials and Devices Group at Rutgers University have found a simple way to uniformly deposit between one and five layers of graphene from reduced GO in the form of thin films to create transistors and proof-of concept electrodes for organic photovoltaics.

 

A single sheet of graphite, or graphene, possesses extremely interesting properties arising from its unique energy dispersion. Graphene can be produced in large quantities and processed in a form of solution once appropriate chemical fictionalization is applied. The scientists have solution-processed graphene to fabricate a large area of ultra-thin films which could be useful for macro-scale electronic devices such as photovoltaics, sensors, and thin film transistors. One of the major challenges of this work is the complete removal of functional groups from the starting graphene oxide solution (which are initially required for processability) to fully recover the intrinsic properties of graphene.

 

Their aim is to optimize the opto-electronic properties of solution-processed graphene and incorporate it into large area thin film electronics.

 

Hongjie Dai, a professor of chemistry at Stanford University, and his colleagues have already demonstrated that graphene once incorporated into transistors, show excellent electronic properties and according to MIT's Technology Review has already attracted the attention of researchers at IBM, HP, and Intel.

 

Full details of the process by Rutgers University are described in a paper Large-area ultrathin films of reduced graphene oxide as a transparent and flexible electronic material.

 

For more attend Printed Electronics USA 2008.

 

Reference: Rutgers University, Technology Review

Source of image: Rutgers University