Restoring the electrical conductivity of graphene oxide films by UV light induced oxygen desorption

TL;DR

This paper presents a chemical-free UV light method to reduce graphene oxide films by inducing oxygen desorption, significantly lowering their surface resistivity for potential optoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel UV light-based reduction technique for graphene oxide films that avoids chemical agents, enabling cleaner integration into devices.

Findings

UV exposure causes oxygen desorption from GO films

Surface resistivity decreases with increased UV exposure

Method offers a clean alternative for GO reduction

Abstract

We report a chemical free method for the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) thin films. It was observed how for GO films annealed in air the oxygen species desorb from the GO surface upon exposure to UV light and how the surface resistivity of such deoxygenated GO films decreases with increasing the exposure to the UV light. The obtained results open a clean as well as easy route for the integration of GO based materials into optoelectronic devices.