Graphene: Synthesis, properties and application in transparent electronic devices

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) nanomaterials have received huge attention because of their attractiveness for use in many electronic and optoelectronic devices. Graphene is the two-dimensional basic building block for carbon allotropes of any dimensionality, such as graphite, nanotubes and fullerenes. As we know, transparent electrodes are an important component in many modern electronic devices such as touch screen, liquid crystal display (LCD), light-emitting diode (LED) and solar cells. In addition, all of electronic appliances are growing in demand too much fast due to the rapid industrialization and growing human population. Right now, this role has been well used by doped metal oxide materials; most common are tin doped indium oxide (ITO) and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO). In recent years many other transparent conducting materials (TCM) have also been developed such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs), graphene, metal nanowires and nanoparticles. Among the all these TCM, graphene has received greater attention due to advantages over other materials because of its very high electrical conductivity, optical transparency and flexibility. The flexibility of graphene-based devices goes beyond conventional transistor circuits and includes flexible and transparent electronics, optoelectronics, sensors, electromechanical systems, and energy technologies. This review article will explore the production of graphene by different methods, properties of graphene and also analyze the application in transparent conducting electronic devices.