Transparent, highly conductive graphene electrodes from acetylene-assisted thermolysis of graphite oxide sheets and nanographene molecules

Transparent and highly conductive graphene electrodes have been fabricated through acetylene-assisted thermolysis of graphite oxide (GO) sheets. This novel procedure uses acetylene as a supplemental carbon source to repair substantial defects within GO sheets, leading to the enhancement of graphitization of synthesized graphene electrodes. The as-prepared graphene on quartz substrates exhibits an electrical conductivity of 1425 S cm(-1) with an optical transmittance of more than 70% at a wavelength of 500 nm. Such an acetylene-assisted thermal treatment approach is also adopted to fabricate graphene electrodes from synthetic nanographene molecules, with an almost five times increase in conductivity compared to samples prepared by the common thermal reduction.