Direct chemical vapor deposition synthesis of graphene super-hydrophobic transparent glass

Direct growth of high-quality graphene films on glasses by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method has emerged as a promising route to produce smart glass equipment, with tunable quality, excellent film uniformity, and potential scalability. The reactive ion etching process assists to change the microstructure, adhesion force, and hydrophobicity properties of glass for superhydrophobic light-transmitting graphene glass. Here, we report a CF4 plasma etching-assisted CVD method to direct synthesis of graphene glasses. We optimized CF4 plasma power to be 100 W with etching times ranging from 10 min to 60 min. The optimized conditions such as polished glass or not, different growth times, and so on were also considered. With etching time of 10 min and growth time of 210 min, graphene grown on CF4 plasma-etched quartz glass (EPG) exhibits excellent hydrophobicity with a water droplet contact angle as high as 150 degrees. The graphene glasses along with excellent hydrophobicity and transmittance have great potential in transparent conductors, smart windows, simple heating devices, and solar-cell electrode fields. The morphology and composite of graphene were characterized by SEM, TEM, XPS, Raman, and TGA. UV-Vis and contact angle tester were also taken to verify thermal stability, light transmittance, and wettability respectively.

Automated summary

Direct growth of high-quality graphene films on glasses by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method has emerged as a promising route to produce smart glass equipment, with tunable quality, excellent film uniformity, and potential scalability. CF4 plasma etching-assisted CVD method enables the direct synthesis of superhydrophobic light-transmitting graphene glass, with excellent hydrophobicity and transmittance, showing great potential in transparent conductors, smart windows, simple heating devices, and solar-cell electrode fields.