This paper reports a procedure leading to shear exfoliation of pristine few-layer graphene flakes in water and subsequent site-selective formation of Cu/graphene films on polymer substrates, both of which are enabled by employing the water soluble 1-pyrenebutyric acid tetrabutylammonium salt (PyB-TBA). The exfoliation with PyB-TBA as an enhancer leads to as-deposited graphene films dried at 90 °C that are characterized by electrical conductivity of ∼110 S/m. Owing to the good affinity of the tetrabutylammonium cations to the catalyst PdCl42-, electroless copper deposition selectively in the graphene films is initiated, resulting in a self-aligned formation of highly conductive Cu/graphene films at room temperature. The excellent solution-phase and low-temperature processability, self-aligned copper growth, and high electrical conductivity of the Cu/graphene films have permitted fabrication of several electronic circuits on plastic foils, thereby indicating their great potential in compliant, flexible, and printed electronics.
Keywords: electroless copper deposition; flexible electronics; graphene; self-aligned metallization; solution-phase processing.