Macroscopic Graphene Fibers Directly Assembled from CVD-Grown Fiber-Shaped Hollow Graphene Tubes

Using a copper wire as the substrate for the CVD growth of a hollow multilayer graphene tube, we prepared a macroscopic porous graphene fiber by removing the copper in an aqueous mixture solution of iron chloride (FeCl3, 1M) and hydrochloric acid (HCl, 3M) and continuously drawing the newly released graphene tube out of the liquid. The length of the macroscopic graphene fiber thus produced is determined mainly by the length of the copper wire used. The resultant macroscopic graphene fiber with the integrated graphene structure exhibited a high electrical conductivity (127.3 Scm(-1)) and good flexibility over thousands bending cycles, showing great promise as flexible electrodes for wearable optoelectronics and energy devices-exemplified by its use as a flexible conductive wire for lighting a LED and a cathode in a fiber-shaped dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with one of the highest energy conversion efficiencies (3.25%) among fiber-shaped DSSCs.