Study of GO-Cu2O and RGO-Cu nanocomposite monolayer sheets prepared by modified Langmuir Blodgett route

Abstract

The modified Langmuir-Blodgett (MLB) technique has been improvised and extended to transfer GO-Cu2O nanocomposite monolayer sheets, by introducing Cu2+ ions into the subphase at room temperature. Morphological studies of as-transferred sheets revealed the presence of closely spaced GO monolayer sheets, with slightly enhanced roughness. XPS studies of as-transferred sheets confirmed the presence of copper, either as metallic Cu or Cu2O, along with significant Cu(OH)2 component, but TEM results confirmed the formation of Cu2O nanocrystallites of size (7 ± 2) nm, distributed uniformly over GO sheets. After heat treatment in vacuum at 400 °C, the nanocomposite sheets were covered with a uniform distribution of larger size nanoparticles. Based on Raman, XPS and TEM studies it has been confirmed that heat treatment at 400 °C in vacuum results in the formation of agglomerated Cu nanoparticles of size (23 ± 9) nm distributed uniformly over reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets. The electrical characterization of nanocomposite sheets on SiO2/Si in back-gated FET geometry revealed that the electrical conductivity of as-transferred GO-Cu2O sheets was similar to that usually observed for GO monolayer sheets. The RGO-Cu sheets also displayed electrical conductivity and field effect mobility values comparable to those reported for RGO sheets obtained by chemical/thermal reduction, and was unaffected by the presence of Cu nanoparticles.