Integrated graphene systems by laser irradiation for advanced devices

doi:10.1016/j.nantod.2016.12.010

Nano Today

Volume 12, February 2017, Pages 14-30

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nantod.2016.12.010 Get rights and content

Highlights

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We summarized the significant advance on laser-directed integrated graphene devices.
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The state-of-the-art applications in electronic/optoelectronic devices were reviewed.
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The perspectives and challenges in future graphene integrated devices were discussed.

Abstract

With the development of portable electronics, integrated graphene microstructures and devices have attracted increasing attention due to their environment-benign, lightweight feature with small occupied area. Laser irradiation technique with advantages of rapid processing speed, large scan area and nanometer spatial resolution has been widely studied and applied in the fabrication of various nano/microstructures of graphene materials for integrated electronic applications. This review summarizes the significant advance on laser-directed design and fabrication of integrated graphene devices, along with state-of-the-art applications in microcircuits, supercapacitors, sensors, actuators, memory chips and optoelectronic devices. The perspectives and challenges in designing and improving future graphene integrated devices are also discussed.

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Nanocarbons with multi-dimensional structures, such as zero-dimensional fullerene, one-dimensional carbon nanotube, and two-dimensional graphene, exhibit great potentials in various applications including electrocatalysis, sensing, bio-imaging and so on owing to their unique properties [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Among them, graphene has attracted tremendous research interest since its discovery in 2004 [1]. Its unique and fantastic structure allows graphene to hold unprecedented superior properties, including a high charge carrier mobility of ca. 200 000 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹ [6], [7], excellent optical transmittance of ca. 97.3% [8], a thermal conductivity of ca. 3000–5000 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at room temperature [9], a large theoretical surface area of ca. 2600 m² g⁻¹ [10], [11] and a high Young’s modulus of ∼1.0 TPa [12]. These outstanding properties make graphene a great potential material for broad applications in electronics [13], [14], transparent and flexible electrodes [15], [16], [17], sensors [18], [19], high-strength materials [20], catalysts [21] and energy conversion and storage devices [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30].

Among all these applications, integrated graphene devices with the properties of lightweight, small occupied area, and mechanical flexibility are of broad practical interest and importance. However, the difficulties in mass production of integrated graphene structures and the miniaturization of the entire system restrict their commercialization in practical applications. Most of traditional fabrication approaches, including photolithography, electron beam lithography, plasma etching and chemical method with masks, involve complex steps, require sophisticated operation, and suffer from photoresist contamination on graphene surface [31], [32], [33], [34], [35], [36], [37], [38]. Thus, it intrigues the great interest for the exploration of new efficient techniques to prepare graphene and merge it into complex patterns with desirable configurations for integrated devices.

Laser processing, also known as laser irradiation technique, has attracted increasing attention due to its advantages of rapid material processing speed, large scan area, nanometer spatial resolution and single-step capability [39]. Laser irradiation enables the easy fabrication of certain patterning at low cost via a convenient design and integration that is compatible with the existing electronic industry for various applications. Thus it is an efficient and easy tool to synthesize and manipulate graphene through the process of ablation, etching, cutting, as well as direct writing on surfaces, the modification and functionalization toward various integrated devices [40]. The comparisons of laser-induced strategies with the conventional methods are listed in Table 1.

To date, an increasing number of researches related to the employment of laser technique toward graphene system have been reported [41], [42], [43], [44], including the study on photoreduction of graphene oxide (GO) [42], the synthesis and patterning of graphene [41], [43] and the chemical modification of GO [44]. However, a focus overview on laser-induced graphene integrated materials toward advanced devices is still absent.

In this review, we will summarize the recent developments on laser-induced designation and fabrication of graphene-based devices and their state-of-the-art applications contributed by us and other groups, mainly focusing on the integrated graphene systems in energy-related fields as illustrated in Fig. 1. The current challenges and crucial issues in designing and improving future research of graphene integrated devices are also discussed in this review.

Section snippets

Design of integrated graphene systems by laser irradiation

Laser irradiation technique applied in fabrication of integrated graphene microstructures has attracted increasing attention due to its advantages of rapid material processing speed, large scan area, nanometer spatial resolution and single-step capability. In some cases, the processing of graphene can be easily achieved without any physical contact between graphene and tools. Up to now, various integrated and wearable graphene-based architectures have been developed through direct growth and

Microcircuits and optoelectronic devices

Due to the unique physical and chemical properties, graphene exhibits great potential in various applications, particularly in electronic microdevices [109], [110], [111], which however requires refined control of complex patterns of integrated circuits [112], [113]. The drawback of graphene for electronics is its zero band gap [114], which leads to the difficulty in representing information storage bits for electronic switches. In this regard, construction of p-n junctions by turning some

Conclusion and outlook

Employing laser irradiation technique to achieve complex microstructures of graphene materials has attracted numerous interests and has been widely studied for application in the integrated and wearable electronics. In this current article, we have reviewed the design and fabrication of graphene integrated materials through laser processing, including direct growth and patterning, controllable reduction of GO, thinning, transferring, modification and functionalization, along with the recent

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by NSFC (No. 21325415, 51673026, 21604003), National Basic Research Program of China (2011CB013000), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (2164070, 2152028), Excellent Young Scholars Research Fund of Beijing Institute of Technology.

Yang Zhao received a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Beijing Institute of Technology (Beijing, China). She is now an Assistant professor of Chemistry at the Beijing Institute of Technology. Her research interests lie in the development of new methods and strategies for fabrication of carbon-based functional materials for various applications.

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Qing Han received her BS and MS in Chemistry in 2010 and 2013 at Bohai University (China) and Liaoning Normal University (China) respectively. She is currently a PhD candidate in Prof. Qu’s group at Beijing Institute of Technology (China). Her research interests focus on (i) design and synthesis of metal-free catalysts for photocatalysis and electrocatalysis as well as (ii) device fabrication of carbon-based nanomaterials for energy conversion/storage application.

Zhihua Cheng is currently master candidate under the supervision of Professor Liangti Qu and Dr. Yang Zhao at School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering in Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). His research focus lies in graphene or/and carbon based functional materials, especially integrating those materials into energy-related devices.

Dr. Lan Jiang is the Changjiang Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology. He received National Outstanding Young-Scientist Award, National Natural Science Foundation of China and the First Award of Natural Sciences, Ministry of Education, China. He was also elected the National Leading Researcher for S&T Innovations; and the Leader of Innovation Group, Ministry of Education, China. Dr. Jiang has authored 178 papers in mainstream international journals and 52 patents. He has delivered 67 keynote/plenary/invited talks in international conferences.

Liangti Qu received a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Tsinghua University (Beijing, China) in 2004. He is now a Professor of Chemistry at the Beijing Institute of Technology and leads the nanocarbon research group. His research interests in materials chemistry mainly focus on the synthesis, functionalization and application of nanomaterials with carbon–carbon conjugated structures, including carbon nanotubes, graphene and conducting polymers. As Changjiang Professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology he has published more than 160 scientific research papers in the prestigeous journals.

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Nano Today

ReviewIntegrated graphene systems by laser irradiation for advanced devices

Highlights

Abstract

Graphical abstract

Introduction

Section snippets

Design of integrated graphene systems by laser irradiation

Microcircuits and optoelectronic devices

Conclusion and outlook

Acknowledgements

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Review
Integrated graphene systems by laser irradiation for advanced devices