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Transparent and conductive films from liquid phase exfoliated graphene

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Abstract

We describe transparent and conductive films of liquid-phase exfoliated graphene deposited with the Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) method. Graphene sheets (GS) were exfoliated from graphite by ultrasonic treatment in N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) and N, N-dimethylacetamide (DMA) solvents. For comparison, graphene sheets were also exfoliated in a water solution of surfactants. We confirm a higher exfoliation rate for surfactant-based processing compared to NMP and DMA. Furthermore, we demonstrate that our films exfoliated in NMP and DMA, deposited with LB and annealed have a higher optical transmittance and lower sheet resistance compared to films obtained with vacuum filtration, which is a necessary step for GS exfoliated in water solutions. The structural, optical and electrical properties of graphene layers were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy, UV/VIS spectrophotometry and sheet resistance measurements. Our facile and reproducible method results in high-quality transparent conductive films with potential applications in flexible and printed electronics and coating technology.

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Acknowledgments

This work was funded by the Serbian MPNTR through Projects OI 171005 and Innovation Project 451-03-2802-IP/1/167 and by Qatar National Research Foundation through Projects NPRP 7-665-1-125. The authors would like to express their gratitude to S. Novkovic for technical support with annealing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Solid State Physics and New Materials, Institute of Physics, University of Belgrade, Pregrevica 118, 11080, Belgrade, Serbia

    Tijana Tomašević-Ilić, Jelena Pešić, Ivana Milošević, Jasna Vujin, Aleksandar Matković, Marko Spasenović & Radoš Gajić

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  1. Tijana Tomašević-Ilić
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  2. Jelena Pešić
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  3. Ivana Milošević
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  4. Jasna Vujin
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  5. Aleksandar Matković
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  6. Marko Spasenović
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  7. Radoš Gajić
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Correspondence to Tijana Tomašević-Ilić.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Advances in the Science of Light.

Guest Edited by Jelena Radovanovic, Milutin Stepic, Mikhail Sumetsky, Mauro Pereira and Dragan Indjin.

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Tomašević-Ilić, T., Pešić, J., Milošević, I. et al. Transparent and conductive films from liquid phase exfoliated graphene. Opt Quant Electron 48, 319 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11082-016-0591-1

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