title: Lateral assembly of oxidized graphene flakes into large-scale transparent conductive thin films with a three-dimensional surfactant 4-sulfocalix[4]arene.
abstract: Graphene is a promising candidate material for transparent conductive films because of its excellent conductivity and one-carbon-atom thickness. Graphene oxide flakes prepared by Hummers method are typically several microns in size and must be pieced together in order to create macroscopic films. We report a macro-scale thin film fabrication method which employs a three-dimensional (3-D) surfactant, 4-sulfocalix[4]arene (SCX), as a lateral aggregating agent. After electrochemical exfoliation, the partially oxidized graphene (oGr) flakes are dispersed with SCX. The SCX forms micelles, which adsorb on the oGr flakes to enhance their dispersion, also promote aggregation into large-scale thin films under vacuum filtration. A thin oGr/SCX film can be shaved off from the aggregated oGr/SCX cake by immersing the cake in water. The oGr/SCX thin-film floating on the water can be subsequently lifted from the water surface with a substrate. The reduced oGr (red-oGr) films can be as thin as 10-20 nm with a transparency of >90% and sheet resistance of 890 ± 47 kΩ/sq. This method of electrochemical exfoliation followed by SCX-assisted suspension and hydrazine reduction, avoids using large amounts of strong acid (unlike Hummers method), is relatively simple and can easily form a large scale conductive and transparent film from oGr/SCX suspension.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ashok K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Sundramoorthy
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Yilei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soft Chemistry and Functional Materials, Ministry of Education, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jianfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Che
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Ya Xuan
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Thong
authors.affiliation: Singapore Institute of Manufacturing Technology (SIMTech), 71 Nanyang Drive, Singapore 638075, Singapore.
authors.forename: Albert Chee W
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 637459, Singapore.
authors.forename: Mary B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Chan-Park