Inkjet Printing of High Conductivity, Flexible Graphene Patterns

• DOI: 10.1021/jz400644c
• Publication Date: 2013-04-08T12:47:39Z
• Authors: Ethan B. Secor; Pradyumna L. Prab...; Kanan Puntambekar; Michael L. Geier; Mark C. Hersam
• Keywords: 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

The ability to print high conductivity, conformal, and flexible electrodes is an important technological challenge in printed electronics, especially for large-area formats with low cost considerations. In this Letter, we demonstrate inkjet-printed, high conductivity graphene patterns that are suitable for flexible electronics. The ink is prepared by solution-phase exfoliation of graphene using an environmentally benign solvent, ethanol, and a stabilizing polymer, ethyl cellulose. The inkjet-printed graphene features attain low resistivity of 4 mΩ·cm after a thermal anneal at 250 °C for 30 min while showing uniform morphology, compatibility with flexible substrates, and excellent tolerance to bending stresses.