One-step facile and novel method for the growth of vertical graphene oxide and its potential application in infrared sensing

Abstract

We report a facile one-step method for the preparation of vertical graphene oxide (VGO) nanosheets from graphene oxide (GO). Here, the GO dispersion with appropriate concentration is thermally heated to obtain a thin layer of VGO sheets at the surface of the solution. The vertical structure of GO sheets is confirmed by the surface morphology studies showing its presence in an area of 7 × 13 μm2 in size over the SiO2/Si substrate. The VGO nanosheets are also observed to form by heating the parent GO solution at different temperatures ranging from 110 to 140°C, while the growth time may vary. We have investigated the potential of prepared vertical graphene oxide for infrared (IR) sensing. The fabricated device based on VGO sheets demonstrated a maximum photosensitivity ∼190%, when illuminated with infrared radiation. The sensor demonstrates good repeatability in its photoresponse with response-recovery times of 68 ms and 63 ms, respectively, indicating a reliable and fast IR sensing. We also observe that the photosensitivity of the sensor towards IR illumination varies from 188.7% to 68.6% as the intensity varies from 28.7 to 6.4 mW/cm2. The findings presented here demonstrate the potential of vertical graphene oxide nanosheets for potential IR sensing.

Keywords

• Graphene
• Graphene oxide
• Chemically derived graphene
• Vertical graphene
• Infrared sensing