Preparation of reduced graphene oxide films by dip coating technique and their electrical conductivity

Abstract

The reduced graphene oxide (R-GO) films were first fabricated via the dip coating technique in this experiment with graphene oxide (GO) suspension followed by thermal annealing. The growth process was monitored by UV-vis, and the morphology and structure of the obtained films were investigated by AFM, SEM and XPS. The authors found that GO films can grow uniformly on the quartz slides and the thickness, morphology and microstructure of the films were influenced by the coating cycles and the solid content of GO suspension. An ideal R-GO film was obtained when the solid content of GO suspension is 0·3 mg mL−1 with five coating cycles followed by annealing at 600°C in Ar/H2 atmosphere. The sheet resistance is less than 60 kΩ□−1 and the transmittance is as high as 81% (at 550 nm). The dip coating technique might be a promising approach for fabricating R-GO films or composite films.