Abstract
Graphene is a monolayer of carbon atoms which exhibits remarkable electronic and mechanical properties. Graphene based nano-materials have gained a lot of interest for many applications. In this paper, inks with three different graphene concentrations (12.5, 25, and 33 wt % in graphene) were prepared and deposited by screen printing. A detailed investigation of films’ surface morphology using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) revealed that the graphene films present a homogeneous dispersion of the filler with a comparatively lower surface roughness at higher concentrations and negligible agglomerates. The films were then printed between copper electrodes on FR-4 substrate (trade name for glass-reinforced epoxy laminate material), commonly used in Radio Frequency (RF) circuits, and the measured scattering parameters analyzed. Finally, the reflection coefficient of a patch antenna, fabricated on FR-4 substrate with and without a stub loaded by a thin film were measured. The difference of the resonant frequency due to the different interaction between graphene flakes and polymer binders shows attractive features of functionalized graphene films for chemical and bio-sensing applications.
Highlights
Graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) structure with sp2 chemical bonds of carbon atoms, with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties amenable to several applications [1,2]
Morphology μm thick) Characterization screen-printed on FR-4 were performed by using the four-probe method with a Solatron 1286 electrochemical interface
A detailed investigation investigation of the surface morphology of the films using Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) revealed that the graphene of the surface morphology of the films using SEM and AFM revealed that the graphene filler was filler was homogeneously dispersed over the film surface with a comparatively lower surface homogeneously dispersed over the film surface with a comparatively lower surface roughness at roughness at higher concentrations, and negligible agglomerates
Summary
Graphene is a two-dimensional (2D) structure with sp chemical bonds of carbon atoms, with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties amenable to several applications [1,2]. Graphene films have found many applications as electrochemical sensors (see e.g., [11]), biosensors [12], gas sensors (see e.g., [13,14]), humidity, temperature, and pressure monitoring [15]. Graphene electrical properties have been widely analyzed in the terahertz frequency [16] range where plasmonic effects occur. The frequency shift of CNT films has been found out to be beneficial for gas sensors in which the film’s dielectric, conductive or inductive properties have been modified upon exposure to gases (e.g., ammonia) [19]. The same principle has been exploited for biomedical applications such as breast cancer tumor cells detection [20] and glucose biosensor [21]
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