Transfer Medium Design for Fabrication of Graphene Barrier Films
Abstract Theoretically, defect-free monolayer graphene grown by chemical vapor deposition can block nearly all gases and moisture, making it a promising material for large-scale flexible encapsulation in future photonic and electronic applications. However, the lack of reliable transfer and fabrication methods that suppress the formation of transfer-induced cracks and interlayer transport of water molecules in stacked graphene films severely limits the barrier performance of current graphene-based barrier films. In this work, we employed a dopant-incorporated polyvinylidene difluoride with a concentration gradient as a transfer medium to suppress crack formation during transfer through conformal graphene–polymer contact and to dope graphene, thereby hindering water diffusion through enhanced water–graphene interactions. Consequently, the as-fabricated barrier film achieved an ultralow water vapor transmission rate value of 9.3 × 10–5 g m–2 day–1. In addition, a home-built roll-to-roll transfer system for continuous fabrication of graphene barrier films demonstrates the scalability of this strategy and its potential for large-scale flexible and transparent encapsulation.
Authors
- Pengzhan Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5838-0945)
- Li Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3626-0643)
- Luzhao Sun (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0518-0744)
- Kaicheng Jia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-7682-0937)
- Junhao Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-8502-5219)
- Haotian Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-1806-538X)
- Long Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0002-5775-5191)
- Hailin Peng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1569-0238)
- Zhuofeng Shi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-0652-7003)
- Mingpeng Shang
- Saiyu Bu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6446-4718)
- Yuqing Kuai
- Xiaokai Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7048-6614)
- Zelong Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5322-5065)
- Yanru Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2657-5174)
- Bingbing Guo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9072-1105)
- Zhongfan Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5554-1902)
- Yixuan Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-1152-889X)
- Ge Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3109-3145)
- Jianbo Yin
- Fan Liang
- Li Yin
- Fangfang Li
- Hongyang Li
- Zhiying Xu
- Anbang Zhu
- Chaofan Zhou
- Hongjie Gao
- Qin Xie
- Qi Lu
- Zhaoning Hu
- Wenzhe Zhang
Institutions
- Peking University (CN)
- University of Macau (MO)
- China University of Petroleum, Beijing (CN)
- Nankai University (CN)
- Beijing Graphene Institute (CN)
- National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (CN)
- Guilin University of Electronic Technology (CN)
- Ocean University of China (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nano Letters
- Published
- 2026-09-30
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.6c03009
- Primary Topic
- Solar-Powered Water Purification Methods
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00