Abstract
Graphene–polymer composites play an increasing role in photonic and optoelectronic applications, from ultrafast pulse generation to solar cells. The fabrication of an optical quality surfactant‐free graphene‐styrene methyl methacrylate composite, stable to large humidity and temperature ranges is reported. The composite is tailored for photonic applications showing wavelength‐independent linear absorption in the visible and near‐infrared. When tested in a mode‐locked laser, it allows the generation of stable ≈326 fs mode‐locked pulses at 1550 nm, unperturbed by environmental conditions. The composite continues to operate as a saturable absorber even under complete water immersion at 60 °C. This confirms its stability against high‐temperature and humidity.
Highlights
Graphene–polymer composites play an increasing role in photonic and fast lasers
Liquid phase exfoliation (LPE) of graphite crystals in a surpulses can be obtained by passive mode-locking.[4]
We find that ≈28% are Single Layer Graphene (SLG), ≈20% are bilayer graphene (BLGs) flakes, and ≈52% few layer graphene flakes (Figure 1c), with lateral size ≈300–1000 nm
Summary
Graphite flakes (NGS Naturgraphit) are exfoliated in an ultrasonic bath (Decon bath FS100, 100 W) for 9 h using anhydrous NMP as solvent. The graphene dispersion is placed in an ultracentrifuge at 10 000 rpm (17 000 g) for an hour We select this exfoliation sonication and centrifugation steps because they produce the highest YM in NMP.[41] The top 70% is decanted for characterization and composite fabrication. The Raman spectrum of a starting natural graphite flake measured at 514 nm (shown, blue curve) is compared to that of the LPE graphene dispensed on Si/SiO2 and annealed at 170 °C to remove NMP (Figure 2a, green curve). [41] where similar LPE graphene dispersions were analyzed Such absence of correlation is a clear indication that the major contribution to the D peak comes from the sample edges[41] and further confirms the absence of defective flakes.
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