Preparation of highly conductive graphene-coated glass fibers by sol-gel and dip-coating method

In order to fabricate highly-conductive glass fibers using graphene as multi-functional coatings, we reported the preparation of graphene-coated glass fibers with high electrical conductivity through solgel and dip-coating technique in a simple way. Graphene oxide(GO) was partially reduced to graphene hydrosol, and then glass fibers were dipped and coated with the reduced GO(r GO). After repeated solgel and dip-coating treatment, the glass fibers were fully covered with r GO coatings, and consequently exhibited increased hydrophobicity and high electrical conductivity. The graphene-coated fibers exhibited good electrical conductivity of 24.9 S/cm, being higher than that of other nanocarbon-coated fibers and commercial carbon fibers, which is mainly attributed to the high intrinsic electrical conductivity of r GO and full coverage of fiber surfaces. The wettability and electrical conductivity of the coated fibers strongly depended on the dip-coating times and coating thickness, which is closely associated with coverage degree and compact structure of the graphene coatings. By virtue of high conductivity and easy operation, the graphene-coated glass fibers have great potential to be used as flexible conductive wires,highly-sensitive sensors, and multi-functional fibers in many fields.