Anomalous charge transport in reduced graphene oxide films on a uniaxially strained elastic substrate

We investigate temperature-dependent charge transport in reduced graphene oxide (rGO) films coated on flexible polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates which are subject to uniaxial strain. Variable strain, up to 10%, results in an anisotropic morphology comprising of quasi-periodic linear array of deformations which are oriented perpendicular to the direction of strain. The anisotropy is reflected in the charge transport measurements, when conduction in the direction parallel and perpendicular to the applied strain are compared. Temperature dependence of resistance is measured for different values of strain in the temperature interval 80–300 K. While the resistance increases significantly upon application of strain, the temperature-dependent response shows anomalous decrease in resistance ratio R 80 K/R 300 K upon application of strain. This observation of favorable conduction processes under strain is further corroborated by reduced activation energy analysis of the temperature-dependent transport data. These anomalous transport features can be reconciled based on mutually competing effects of two processes: (i) thinning of graphene at the sites of periodic deformations, which tends to enhance the overall resistance by a purely geometrical effect, and (ii) locally enhanced inter-flake coupling in these same regions which contributes to improved temperature-dependent conduction.