Highly Conductive Nitrogen-Doped Graphene Grown on Glass toward Electrochromic Applications

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2018 Sep 26;10(38):32622-32630. doi: 10.1021/acsami.8b11579. Epub 2018 Sep 14.

Abstract

The direct synthesis of low sheet resistance graphene on glass can promote the applications of such intriguing hybrid materials in transparent electronics and energy-related fields. Chemical doping is efficient for tailoring the carrier concentration and the electronic properties of graphene that previously derived from metal substrates. Herein, we report the direct synthesis of 5 in. uniform nitrogen-doped (N-doped) graphene on the quartz glass through a designed low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) route. Ethanol and methylamine were selected respectively as precursor and dopant for acquiring predominantly graphitic-N-doped graphene. We reveal that by a precise control of growth temperature and thus the doping level the sheet resistance of graphene on glass can be as low as one-half that of nondoped graphene, accompanied by relative high crystal quality and transparency. Significantly, we demonstrate that this scalable, 5 in. uniform N-doped graphene glass can serve as excellent electrode materials for fabricating high performance electrochromic smart windows, featured with a much simplified device structure. This work should pave ways for the direct synthesis and application of the new type graphene-based hybrid material.

Keywords: chemical vapor deposition; direct growth; electrochromic windows; graphene glass; nitrogen-doped graphene.