Fabrication of high-performance graphene nanoplatelet-based transparent electrodes via self-interlayer-exfoliation control

Abstract

Graphene nanoplatelets (GNP) have attracted considerable attention due to their high yield and fabrication route that is scalable to enable graphene production. However, the absence of a means of fabricating a transparent and conductive GNP film has been the biggest obstacle to the replacement of pristine graphene. Here, we report on a novel means of fabricating uniform and thin GNP-based high-performance transparent electrodes for flexible and stretchable optoelectronic devices involving the use of an adhesive polymer layer (PMMA) as a GNP layer controller and by forming a hybrid GNP/AgNW electrode embedded on PET or PDMS. Relative to the commercially available indium tin oxide (ITO) film on a PET substrate, a GNP-based electrode composed of hybrid GNP/AgNW on PET exhibits superb optical, physical, and electrical properties: a sheet resistance of 12 Ω sq⁻¹ with 87.4% transmittance, a variable work function from 4.16 to 5.26 eV, an ultra-smooth surface, a rate of resistance increase of only 4.0% after 100 000 bending cycles, stretchability to 50% of tensile strain, and robust stability against oxidation. Moreover, the GNP-based electrode composed of hybrid Cl-doped GNP/AgNW shows outstanding performance in actual organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) by exhibiting an increased current efficiency of 29.5% and an increased luminous efficiency of 36.2%, relative to the commercial ITO electrode on PET.