Solvent Interface Trapping as an Effective Technique to Fabricate Graphite-Nanomaterial Composite Thin Films
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MRS Advances © 2017 Materials Research Society DOI: 10.1557/adv.2017.621
Solvent Interface Trapping as an Effective Technique to Fabricate Graphite-Nanomaterial Composite Thin Films Medini Padmanabhan, Rachel Meyen, Kerri Houghton and Miles St. John Department of Physical Sciences, Rhode Island College, Providence, RI-02908, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
Natural graphite can be exfoliated into thin films by trapping it at the interface between water and heptane [S. J Woltornist, A. J. Oyer, J-M. Y. Carrillo, A.V. Dobrynin, and D.H. Adamson, ACS Nano 7, 7062 (2013)]. In this work, we add functional elements into these graphitic thin films by introducing additives into the water phase prior to exfoliation. We report the successful incorporation of ZnO nanoparticles thereby enabling the composite films to act as effective ultraviolet photodetectors. In a similar manner, integration of silver nanowires is achieved, which results in an enhancement of the electrical conductivity of graphite.
INTRODUCTION A unique combination of desirable electrical, optical and mechanical properties makes graphene an attractive candidate for myriad technological applications [2]. Fabrication techniques which produce large area graphene sheets are highly sought after. Room temperature solution processing routes are especially attractive since they tend to be cost effective and scalable. The technique of solvent interface exfoliation yields large area thin films of graphene consisting of one to four layers of carbon [1]. The method exploits the unique value of the surface energy of graphene which falls between the values of surface tension for water and heptane. As a result, graphite is naturally exfoliated and a stable graphene film is formed at the interface. The resulting thin film readily climbs up any hydrophilic surface such as glass coating it uniformly with graphene. The lack of any chemical modification ensures that the individual graphene flakes are pristine and maintain their desirable optical and electrical properties [1]. The range of application of graphene thin films is significantly enhanced by the addition of functional elements which impart desirable optoelectronic properties. Covalent and non-covalent functionalization of graphene has resulted in its widespread use in devices such as solar cells, super capacitors and sensors [3]. In this work, we show that the technique of solvent interface exfoliation can be modified to yield graphite-nanomaterial composite thin films. Specifically, we show that nanoparticles of ZnO (ZnO-NP) can be incorporated into these films which then act as effective ultraviolet (UV) photodetectors. We also present the fabrication of graphitesilver nanowire (Ag-NW) composite films. The inclusion of silver enhances the conductivity of graphite which would then have potential applications as transparent conducting electrodes.
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