Towards industrial applications of graphene electrodes

Since the first isolation of graphene in 2004 by mechanical exfoliation from graphite, many people have tried to synthesize large-scale graphene using various chemical methods. In particular, there has been a great number of advances in the synthesis of graphene using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on metal substrates such as Ni and Cu. Recently, a method to synthesize ultra-large-scale (∼30 inch) graphene films using roll-to-roll transfer and chemical doping processes was developed that shows excellent electrical and physical properties suitable for practical applications on a large scale. Considering the outstanding scalability/processibility of roll-to-roll and CVD methods as well as the extraordinary flexibility/conductivity of graphene films, we expect that transparent graphene electrodes can replace indium tin oxide in the near future.