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Link to original content: https://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.132
Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes | Nature Nanotechnology
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Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes

Nature Nanotechnology volume 5, pages 574–578 (2010)Cite this article

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Abstract

The outstanding electrical1, mechanical2,3 and chemical4,5 properties of graphene make it attractive for applications in flexible electronics6,7,8. However, efforts to make transparent conducting films from graphene have been hampered by the lack of efficient methods for the synthesis, transfer and doping of graphene at the scale and quality required for applications. Here, we report the roll-to-roll production and wet-chemical doping of predominantly monolayer 30-inch graphene films grown by chemical vapour deposition onto flexible copper substrates. The films have sheet resistances as low as ∼125 Ω □−1 with 97.4% optical transmittance, and exhibit the half-integer quantum Hall effect, indicating their high quality. We further use layer-by-layer stacking to fabricate a doped four-layer film and measure its sheet resistance at values as low as ∼30 Ω □−1 at ∼90% transparency, which is superior to commercial transparent electrodes such as indium tin oxides. Graphene electrodes were incorporated into a fully functional touch-screen panel device capable of withstanding high strain.

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Figure 1: Schematic of the roll-based production of graphene films grown on a copper foil.
Figure 2: Photographs of the roll-based production of graphene films.
Figure 3: Optical characterizations of the graphene films prepared using layer-by-layer transfer on SiO2/silicon and PET substrates.
Figure 4: Electrical characterizations of layer-by-layer transferred and HNO3-doped graphene films.

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  • 25 June 2010

    In the PDF version of this Letter originally published online, the authors were listed incorrectly. This error has now been corrected.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), funded by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology (2009-0081966, 2009-0082608, 2009-0083540, 2009-0090017, World Class University R33-2008-000-10138-0, National Honor Scientist Program), the Research Centre of Breakthrough Technology Program through the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), funded by the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (2009-3021010030-11-1), Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF-RF2008-07) & NUS NanoCore, and T.J. Park Junior Faculty Fellowship. The authors thank R. Ruoff (University of Texas at Austin) and P. Kim (Columbia University) for helpful comments, W.S. Lim, K.D. Kim and Y.D. Kim (SKKU) for assistance in XPS analysis, and Samkwang Well Tech Co. for assistance with the touch-panel fabrication.

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Author notes

  1. Sukang Bae and Hyeongkeun Kim: These authors contributed equally to this work

Authors and Affiliations

  1. SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT) and Center for Human Interface Nano Technology (HINT), Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Korea

    Sukang Bae, Hyeongkeun Kim, Youngbin Lee, Tian Lei, Young-Jin Kim, Jong-Hyun Ahn, Byung Hee Hong & Sumio Iijima

  2. Department of Chemistry, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Korea

    Hye Ri Kim & Byung Hee Hong

  3. School of Mechanical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Korea

    Hyeongkeun Kim & Young-Jin Kim

  4. School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 440-746, Korea

    Jong-Hyun Ahn

  5. NanoCore & Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117576 & 117542

    Xiangfan Xu, Yi Zheng, Jayakumar Balakrishnan & Barbaros Özyilmaz

  6. Digital & IT Solution Division, Samsung Techwin, Seongnam, 462-807, Korea

    Young Il Song

  7. Department of Chemistry, Center for Superfunctional Materials, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Hyojadong, Namgu, Pohang, 790-784, Korea

    Jae-Sung Park & Kwang S. Kim

  8. Nanotube Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba 305-8565 & Faculty of Science and Engineering, Meijo University, Nagoya, 468-8502, Japan

    Sumio Iijima

Authors
  1. Sukang Bae
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Contributions

B.H.H. planned and supervised the project, with assistance in supervision from J.H.A. Y.-J.K., B.O., K.S.K. and S.I. provided advice for the project. B.H.H., S.B. and H.K. conceived and carried out the experiment. B.H.H., J.H.A. and B.O. analysed the data and wrote the manuscript. X.X., J.B., Y.Z. and B.O. fabricated the QHE devices, and carried out the measurements. Y.L. and Y.I.S. helped with the fabrication of touch-screen panels and electromechanical analysis. J.S.P., H.R.K. and T.L. helped with the doping experiment.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jong-Hyun Ahn or Byung Hee Hong.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Bae, S., Kim, H., Lee, Y. et al. Roll-to-roll production of 30-inch graphene films for transparent electrodes. Nature Nanotech 5, 574–578 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2010.132

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