Hybrid films with graphene oxide and metal nanoparticles could now replace indium tin oxide.

Graphene oxide (G-O), a highly oxidized sheet of sp(2)-hybridized carbon with insulating electrical properties, can be transformed into graphene if it is adequately reduced. In the past, researchers believed that reduced G-O (rG-O) could be highly conducting, but it has been shown that the presence of extended vacancies and defects within rG-O negatively affect its electrical transport. Although these observations indicated that rG-O could not be used in the fabrication of any electronic device, in this issue of ACS Nano, Ruoff's group demonstrates that rG-O can indeed be used for producing efficient transparent conducting films (TCFs) if the rG-O material is coupled with Au nanoparticles (Au-NPs) and Ag nanowires (Ag-NWs). The work further demonstrates that these hybrid films containing zero-dimensional (Au-NPs), one-dimensional (Ag-NWs), and two-dimensional (rG-O) elements exhibit high optical transmittance (e.g., 90%) and low sheet resistance (20-30 Ω/□), with values comparable to those of indium tin oxide (ITO) films. In addition, Ruoff's group notes that the presence of Ag-NWs and rG-O in the films showed antibacterial properties, thus demonstrating that it is now possible to produce flexible TCFs with bactericidal functions. The data show that smart hybrid films containing rG-O and different types of NPs and NWs could be synthesized easily and could result in smart films with unprecedented functions and applications.