Electrophoretic stabilization of freestanding pristine graphene foams with
carbon nanotubes for enhanced optical and electrical response
Landon Oakes,
1,2
Adam Cohn
1
, Andrew Westover,
1,2
and Cary L. Pint
1,2*
1
Interdisciplinary Material Science and Engineering Program, Vanderbilt University, Nashville,
TN 37235, USA
2
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37235, USA
*Corresponding author: Cary.L.Pint@Vanderbilt.edu
Abstract
Graphene materials, including three-dimensional foams, are commonly transferred from growth
substrates using polymer stabilization processes. Even after harsh chemical and annealing treatments to
remove the polymer, residues remain which compromise the electronic, thermal, gravimetric, and
chemical properties of the graphene. To overcome this, we present a scalable, clean approach to
stabilize graphene foams by conformal electrophoretic deposition of web-like networks of surfactant-
free single-walled carbon nanotubes directly from polar solvents. We demonstrate these coatings to yield
a pristine stabilized graphene material exhibiting 50x lower electrical resistance and a 10 cm
-1
optical
red-shift in the Raman G’ double resonance mode in comparison to polymer-stabilized graphene. This
approach enables the formation of three-dimensional architectures of nanomaterials without the adverse
effects associated with residual impurities from polymer and chemical processing.
Keywords: electrophoretic deposition; graphene foam; carbon nanotubes; polymethylmethacrylate; 2D
materials; porous materials
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