Preparation of Graphene Oxide-Based Ink for Inkjet Printing

Fabrication of graphene-based conductive circuits via inkjet printing processes would be very significant, but preparation of graphene inks which can be used in ordinary household inkjet printer is still a challenge. Graphene oxide (GO) is an important graphene derivative with good dispersion properties in water, because it has a lot of oxygen-containing functional groups. In this paper, the relationship between the concentration of GO and the viscosity and surface tension of its dispersion were studied first, GO were prepared by modified Hummers' method. Moreover, the influence of two surfactants-sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and Triton-X100 (TX-100) on viscosity and surface tension of inks were also investigated. It was found that the concentration of GO was 3.9 mg/mL, and the amount of the addition of SDS and TX-100 were 1 mg/mL and 2.5 mg/mL respectively, which can form stable GO-based inks. Finally, the resultant GO-based inks can be printed by home inkjet printer HP-1010 on normal printing paper, flexible polyimide film and thin aluminum foil. It is expected that the development of inkjet printable GO-based inks will decrease the cost of the preparation of graphene electrode/circuits and open up new ways for the application of GO-based thin film and patterns.