Issue 22, 2015

A flexible, transparent and ultrathin single-layer graphene earphone

Abstract

Graphene is flexible and transparent with one-atom layer thickness, and is a novel building block with potential applications in future portable devices. Herein a flexible, transparent and ultrathin earphone based on single-layer graphene (SLG) is reported. The SLG earphone operates in the frequency range of 20 Hz to 200 kHz and has a highest sound pressure level (SPL) of 70 dB at a 1 cm distance. The SPLs emitted from one to six layers of stacked SLG are compared. It is observed that the SPL decreases with an increasing number of stacked layers. The SLG earphone, which is packaged with a commercial earphone casing, can play music clearly. Compared with a conventional earphone, the SLG earphone has a broader frequency response and a lower fluctuation. Testing results in both time and frequency domains show a frequency doubling effect, which indicates that the working principle is based on the electro-thermoacoustic (ETA) effect. As the SLG earphone operates in both the audible and ultrasonic frequency range, it can be used for a wide variety of applications.

Graphical abstract: A flexible, transparent and ultrathin single-layer graphene earphone

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Dec 2014
Accepted
02 Feb 2015
First published
02 Feb 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 17366-17371

Author version available

A flexible, transparent and ultrathin single-layer graphene earphone

H. Tian, Y. Yang, C. Li, W. Mi, M. A. Mohammad and T. Ren, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 17366 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA16047A

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