Inkjet printing of electrochemically-exfoliated graphene nano-platelets

In this study, we report on a facile method of inkjet printing of graphene nano-platelets (GNPs). The GNPs are exfoliated from graphite by means of an electrochemical process in an inorganic salt based electrolyte. The electrochemically exfoliated GNPs with oxygen-bearing functional groups exhibit spectroscopic features similar to those of reduced graphene oxides. As a result, ink formulation with such GNPs for inkjet printing readily accomplishes without using stabilizer and various conductive objects are easily fabricated on different substrates by inkjet printing. The as-printed films of the electrochemically exfoliated GNPs deliver an electrical conductivity of 44 S/m, a typical value for as-printed pristine GNP films in the literature. A simple thermal treatment results in an improved DC conductivity by two orders of magnitude to ∼2.5 × 103 S/m.