Researchers from the University of Exeter have developed a new method for creating entire device arrays directly on the copper substrates used for commercial manufacture of graphene. Complete and fully-functional devices can then be transferred to a substrate of choice, such as silicon, plastics or even textiles.
This new approach is said to be cheaper, simpler and less time consuming than conventional ways of producing graphene-based devices, thus holding real potential to open up the use of cheap-to-produce graphene devices for a host of applications from gas and biomedical sensors to displays.
To demonstrate the new process, the produced a flexible and completely transparent graphene-oxide based humidity sensor that would reportedly be extremely inexpensive to produce using common wafer-scale or roll-to-roll manufacturing techniques, yet can outperform currently available commercial sensors.