Facile conversion of a cellulose acetate laminate film to graphene by a lamination process and post-annealing

Abstract

We have demonstrated a simple method for the synthesis of large area and mono- to few-layer graphene on a nickel foil. A cellulose acetate laminate film was coated on a nickel foil as a solid carbon source. Compared to previous synthesis methods using solid carbon sources, the mentioned carbon source can be easily coated on the metal catalyst layer. The uniform graphene layer could be grown on the nickel catalyst layer due to the uniformity of the solid carbon source layer, which was made of a cellulose acetate laminate film coated by the cold press lamination process. The graphene was grown from the cellulose acetate laminate film without explosive gaseous carbon sources usually used in the growth of graphene by CVD methods. A series of processes mentioned above could start and end with the lamination process. In order to control the thickness of the graphene layer, the graphene samples were annealed at various temperatures and durations. The sheet resistance and transmittance of the transferred graphene on a PET substrate were 4240–100 Ω sq.⁻¹ and 85–60%, respectively. To demonstrate the practical use of graphene, a flexible PLED was fabricated on the graphene electrode synthesized through the method mentioned above. The maximum luminance and luminance efficiency were 4040 Cd m⁻² at 6.8 V and 8.2 Cd A⁻¹ at 4.0 V. To our knowledge, this is the first report on a typical PLED fabricated on the graphene electrode from a solid carbon source.