Rapid roll-to-roll production of graphene films using intensive Joule heating

Abstract

The development of rapid and scalable techniques for thermally conductive film is useful for the improved function and efficiency of electronic devices. The commercially available carbon film that made from polyimide film by sequential carbonization and graphitization in electrical furnace is usually produced in an intermittent way, which inevitably decreases the manufacturing efficiency and increases energy consumption and production cost. Macroscopic graphene film is considered to be an ideal alternative of traditional carbon film due to its combined merits of high thermal conductivity and flexibility. Here, we report a rapid approach to continuously fabricate graphene film by Joule heating of chemically reduced graphene oxide film integrated with a high-throughput roll-to-roll process. The achieved graphene film holds excellent electrical of 4.2 × 10⁵ S/m and thermal conductivity of 1285 ± 20 W/mK. Moreover, the intensive Joule heating in a roll-to-roll manner is more time-saving, energy-efficient, and cost-effective than traditional heating method by electrical furnace. Such facial processing strategy offers new opportunities for the scaled-up manufacturing of large area graphene film with potential applications in the fields of thermal management, flexible electronics, and wearable devices.