Laser-induced forward transfer of graphene oxide

Achieving excellent quality printing of graphene oxide is highly demanded in superior performance device fabrication. Laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT) is a promising method for printing low viscosity liquids, which alleviates the restrictions regarding the rheological properties and the size of the particles suspended in the printing ink. However, the investigation of GO printing is very limited, and this procedure still suffers from low quality and reproducibility. Herein, an effective approach of printing reproducible and well-defined GO droplets through LIFT was presented. Laser ablation was used to create a few microns deep cavity on the microscope glass, which led to the superhydrophilicity of the ablated surface and helped in the formation of a uniform GO film. Subsequently, droplet printing using LIFT method with the modified donor substrate and various pulse energies was investigated. Droplets with a relatively circular shape and limited debris were successfully printed. The droplet diameter grew linearly from 40 to 165 μm with the increasing pulse energy from 4 to 11 μJ. Finally, LIFT of GO with the cleaned donor substrate was studied, and the repetitive printing results showed the feasibility of reusing the modified donor substrate.