A study on the pulsed laser printing of liquid-phase exfoliated graphene for organic electronics

The aim of this work is the pulsed laser printing of liquid-phase exfoliated graphene in the nanosecond regime and the optimization of the printing process on Si/SiO2 and flexible polymer substrates (polyethylene naphthalate) via the laser-induced forward transfer technique (LIFT). The laser printing conditions and the optimum energy fluence window for reproducible deposition have been investigated, while the deposited graphene features have been studied morphologically and structurally by means of optical microscopy, micro-Raman spectroscopy and electrical characterization. LIFT experiments were carried out using the fourth harmonic (266 nm) of a pulsed ns Nd:YAG laser combined with a high-power imaging micromachining system to monitor the printing process throughout the experiments. The irradiation of our graphene solution resulted in the deposition of well-resolved patterns on different surfaces, highlighting LIFT as an alternative technique for the printing and patterning of liquid-phase exfoliated graphene for organic electronics applications.