High-Resolution Transfer Printing of Graphene Lines for Fully Printed, Flexible Electronics

Abstract

Pristine graphene inks show great promise for flexible printed electronics due to their high electrical conductivity and robust mechanical, chemical, and environmental stability. While traditional liquid-phase printing methods can produce graphene patterns with a resolution of ∼30 μm, more precise techniques are required for improved device performance and integration density. A high-resolution transfer printing method is developed here capable of printing conductive graphene patterns on plastic with line width and spacing as small as 3.2 and 1 μm, respectively. The core of this method lies in the design of a graphene ink and its integration with a thermally robust mold that enables annealing at up to ∼250 °C for precise, high-performance graphene patterns. These patterns exhibit excellent electrical and mechanical properties, enabling favorable operation as electrodes in fully printed electrolyte-gated transistors and inverters with stable performance even following cyclic bending to a strain of 1%. The high resolution coupled with excellent control over the line edge roughness to below 25 nm enables aggressive scaling of transistor dimensions, offering a compelling route for the scalable manufacturing of flexible nanoelectronic devices.