Vacuum-Ultraviolet Promoted Oxidative Micro Photoetching of Graphene Oxide

Microprocessing of graphene oxide (GO) films is of fundamental importance in fabricating graphene-based devices. We demonstrate the photoetching of GO sheets using vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV, λ = 172 nm) light under controlled atmospheric pressure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and differential interference contrast microscopy (DIC) studies revealed that the photoetching of GO films successfully proceeded in the regions exposed to VUV irradiation in the oxygen-containing atmosphere. Precise photoetching of the GO sheets was achieved at a vacuum pressure of 5 × 10(3) Pa with VUV light irradiation for 20 min. This was followed by VUV irradiation in a high vacuum (<10(-3) Pa) and sonication in water. The photoetched GO sheets then transformed into reduced GO (rGO) patterns. The minimum feature fabricated by this method was 2 μm wide lines aligned at an interval of 4 μm. This method provides a cost-effective way to fabricate rGO patterns with fewer boundaries between rGO sheets and offers a better integrity of rGO, which can be promising for further applications in micro mechanics, micro electrochemistry, optoelectronics, etc.