Development of field effect transistor based on single graphene ribbon prepared by a modified unzipping process of MWCNT

•Graphene ribbons were prepared by unzipping MWCNT by using oxalic acid.•The produced graphene is monolayer with low defects.•Single graphene ribbon FET was constructed.•The saturation current is larger than FET based graphene prepared by other methods by three times.

Here we report the synthesis of graphene ribbon by unzipping the carbon nanotubes and investigate its performance as a field effect transistor. The produced graphene ribbons were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). A single layer graphene ribbon with average width of 600 ± 20 nm was obtained. This ribbon was drop casted on a silicon substrate coated by 300 nm silicon oxide layer with patterned gold electrode by lithography system. The developed single graphene FET showed very high saturation current density of 2.8A/mm, electrons mobility of 4000 cm2/V.s and holes mobility of 3200 cm2/V.s. These values are higher than the values obtained from FET based graphene prepared by CVD and chemical exfoliation methods. The enhancement of the saturation current value and obtaining high mobility for FET based on single graphene ribbon will open a new avenue to develop a new generation of FET for future applications.

Graphical abstractFigure optionsDownload full-size imageDownload as PowerPoint slide