Electrochemical Deposition of Semiconductor Oxides on Reduced Graphene Oxide-Based Flexible, Transparent, and Conductive Electrodes

Flexible, transparent, and conductive electrodes are prepared by reduction of the graphene oxide (GO) films which were spin-coated on the polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates. On the reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films, ZnO nanorods, as well as p-type and n-type Cu₂O films with good crystallinity have been electrochemically deposited and then characterized. Meanwhile, the effect of pH value of the deposition bath on the morphology, structure, and semiconducting property of the electrochemical deposited Cu₂O has been studied. Our results provide a possible way to replace the indium tin oxide (ITO) and fluorine tin oxide (FTO) electrodes with rGO films in the electrochemical synthesis, and make it promising to synthesize semiconductor oxides on rGO films for future flexible photovoltaic applications. © 2010 American Chemical Society.