One-step growth of reduced graphene oxide on arbitrary substrates

Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) has inherited the outstanding electronic, optical, thermal and mechanical properties of graphene to a large extent, while maintaining sufficient chemically active sites. Therefore, it has attracted a great deal of research attention in the fields of energy storage, electronics, photonics, catalysis, environmental engineering, etc. Currently, the most popular way to prepare rGO is to reduce graphene oxide, which is obtained by modified Hummer methods using tedious treatments in a harsh environment, to rGO flakes. Industrial applications demand advanced preparation methods that can mass produce highly uniform rGO sheets on arbitrary substrates. In this work, a one-step growth process is introduced that utilizes cellulose acetate as a precursor, without any catalysts, to produce uniform ultrathin rGO films on various substrates and free-standing rGO powders. Systematic spectroscopic and microscopic studies on the resulting rGO are performed. Prototypes of electronic and optoelectronic devices, such as field effect transistors (FETs), photodetectors, and humidity sensors, are fabricated and tested, demonstrating the intriguing applications of our rGO materials across a wide range of fields. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd