Simple and Harmless Fabrication of Reduced Graphene Oxide-Based Transparent Conductive Film Using L-Ascorbic Acid as Reducing Agent

In recent years, graphene has displayed tremendous potential as a material for transparent conductive film (TCF), yet its practical application has been hindered by the danger and toxicity involved within graphene’s large-scale chemical synthesis process. In this work, we reported the fabrication of reduced graphene oxide (rGO)-based TCF using L-ascorbic acid (L-AA) as an environmentally friendly and non-toxic reducing agent, which is further assisted by thermal reduction using furnace heating and microwave irradiation. We also demonstrated the potential of drop-casting method as a simple yet effective method for fabricating rGO-based TCF with comparable properties to conventional spin coating method. Application of the microwave irradiation to the L-AA reduced rGO has resulted in large suppression of the defect ratio (I_D / I_G) from 1.74 to 1.02 and significant decrease in sheet resistance from 3345 to 4.80 kΩ/sq. This study provides an insight in realizing a facile and harmless route to fabricate rGO-based TCF by coupling both chemical and thermal treatments for the reduction processes.