Graphene nanoribbon (GNR)-based materials are a promising device material because of their potential high carrier mobility and atomically thin structure. Various approaches have been reported for preparing the GNR-based materials, from bottom-up chemical synthetic procedures to top-down fabrication techniques using lithography of graphene. However, it is still difficult to prepare a large-scale GNR-based material. Here, we develop a procedure to prepare a large-scale GNR network using networked single-layer inorganic nanowires. Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) nanowires were assembled on graphene with an interfacial layer of a cationic polymer via electrostatic interaction. A large-scale nanowire network can be prepared on graphene and is stable enough for applying an oxygen plasma. Using plasma etching, a networked graphene structure can be generated. Removing the nanowires results in a networked flat structure whose both surface morphology and Raman spectrum indicate a GNR networked structure. The field-effect device indicates the semiconducting character of the GNR networked structure. This work would be useful for fabricating a large-scale GNR-based material as a platform for GNR junctions for physics and electronic circuits.
Keywords: GNR network; graphene nanoribbon (GNR); nanowire-based lithography; vanadium pentoxide (V2O5).
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