MOSCOW, 27 января. /TASS /. A group of researchers led by Skoltech professor Albert Nasibulin has recently reported developing a novel carbon nanomaterial that can be used as a transparent conductor in modern electronic devices, according to the press service of the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).

"Compared with the optoelectrical performance of CNT/graphene hybrids reported in literature, the samples produced by Skoltech researchers show superior performance," the announcement said.

Transparent conductive films (TCFs) are widely used in modern electronic devices such as organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), touchscreens and solar cells. Today’s industry-standard transparent conductive films are based on rare metal oxides such as indium-tin oxide (ITO), which are scarce and are therefore becoming increasingly expensive.

Various materials were proposed as potential replacements for ITO. Among them, carbon nanomaterials (carbon nanotube CNTs and graphene) are showing the biggest potential due to their extraordinary electrical, optical and mechanical properties. However, the optoelectrical performance of CNT-or graphene-only TCFs - has still not reached the optoelectrical performance of ITO. One of the ways to further improve optoelectrical characteristics of CNT-and graphene-based TCF- is hybridization of these two materials. This approach leads to creation of novel materials that exhibit better properties than the separate constituents do.

Skoltech PhD students Alexandra Gorkina, Evgenia Gilshteyn and Alexey Tsapenko fabricated CNT/graphene hybrids and performed their optoelectrical characterization. Hybrids were prepared by a facile and low-cost method, which included spray deposition of graphene oxide (GO) onto CNT films, GO reduction in ambient or reducing atmosphere, and, finally, chemical doping of the samples with gold (III) chloride.

Results of the study show that the hybrids demonstrate excellent optoelectrical characteristics.

The results of the study were recently published in Carbon, a prestigious journal dedicated to scientific advances in the field of carbon materials and carbon nanomaterials.