Optical, Electrical, and Electromechanical Properties of Hybrid Graphene/Carbon Nanotube Films

Year: 2015

Authors: Kholmanov I., Magnuson C. W., Piner R., Kim J.-Y., Aliev A. E., Tan C., Kim T. Y., Zakhidov A. A., Sberveglieri G., Baughman R. H., Ruoff R.S.

Autors Affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Materials Science and Engineering Program University of Texas at Austin, 1 University Station C2200, Austin , TX 78712 , USA; CNR-INO, Sensor Lab, University of Brescia via Branze 45 , 25123 Brescia , Italy; Alan G. MacDiarmid NanoTech Institute University of Texas at Dallas Richardson, TX 75083-0688, USA;
Center for Multidimensional Carbon Materials Institute for Basic Science (IBS) Department of Chemistry, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 689798 , Republic of Korea

Abstract: Assembly of two dimensional graphene with one dimensional carbon nanotubes can yield hybrid materials with new structural characteristics and different properties than the individual components. These hybrid systems can have better functional performance, compared to that of only graphene or carbon nanotubes. Here, we report the fabrication and the optical, electrical and electromechanical properties, and applications of high-performance graphene films integrated with aligned multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNT) ‘yarns’ or sheets. Combining a single layer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition and aligned MWNT sheets in two different arrangements: i) graphene layer on top of MWNTs, and ii) MWNTs on top of the graphene layer, we find out that, despite having exactly the same composition, these hybrid films exhibit different optical, electrical, and electromechanical properties. The organized MWNT architecture and excellent flexibility of graphene enable obtaining graphene/MWNT hybrid films with an electromechanical stability significantly higher than that of MWNT/graphene films. The difference in functional performances between the two hybrid films was also demonstrated by testing the films as a transparent electrode in bendable electrochromic devices.
The results demonstrate that high performance of these hybrid films, as compared to the separate constituents, can be achieved by certain choices of the arrangement and combination of graphene layers and MWNT sheets. These studies have important implications for further research on all-carbon hybrid films and indicate their high potential in a broad range of applications including flexible, displays, photovoltaics, and organic light emitting diodes.

Journal/Review: ADVANCED MATERIALS (WEINH., PRINT)

Volume: 27 (19)      Pages from: 3053  to: 3059

More Information: This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (Grant No. DMR 1206986), by Air Force Office of Scientific Research grant FA9550-12-1-0211, and by Welch Foundation grant AT 16-17. R.S.R. was supported by IBS-R019-D1.
KeyWords: carbon nanotubes; electrochromic devices; graphene; transparent conductive films;
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201500785

Citations: 110
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