Separation and Electrical Properties of Self-Organized Graphene/Graphite Layers

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel water-based method for separating graphite layers and investigates their electrical properties, revealing in-plane electrical anisotropy and the formation of self-organized few-layer graphene sheets.

Contribution

It presents a new approach to obtain and separate graphite sheets using NaCl substrate and explores their electrical behavior and structural properties.

Findings

Rubbing direction affects electrical anisotropy.

Friction induces formation of transparent few-layer graphene.

Sheets exhibit non-linear electrical behavior.

Abstract

Intrinsic layered structure of graphite is the source of ongoing and expanding search of ways of obtaining low-cost and promising graphite thin layers. We report on a novel method of obtaining and separating rubbed graphite sheets by using water soluble NaCl substrate. The electrical behavior of sheets was characterized by current-voltage measurements. An in-plane electrical unisotropy depending on rubbing direction is discovered. Optical microscopy observations combined with discovered non-linear electrical behavior revealed that friction leads to the formation of sheet makeup which contain an optically transparent lamina of self-organized few-layer graphene.