Optical properties of spray coated layers with carbon nanotubes and graphene nanoplatelets

Carbon nanotubes and graphene are allotropic forms of carbon. Graphene is a two dimensional (2D) form of atomic-scale, hexagonal lattice, while carbon nanotube is a cylindrical nanostructure composed of a rolled sheet of graphene lattice at specific and discrete angles. Both of discussed materials reveal a high potential for modern engineering, especially in organic and printed electronics. High transparency in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum and low electrical resistance are desirable features in various applications and may be fulfilled with studied carbon nanomaterials. They have chances to become an important technological improvement in customers electronic devices by applying them to production of electrodes in flexible screens and light sources. Graphene and carbon nanotubes are conceptually similar. However, characteristic properties of these two substances are different. In the article authors present the transmission characteristics in visible electromagnetic spectrum for samples made with different nano filler inks. Particularly in wearable electronics the balance between transparency and resistance of carbon electrodes is important. Characteristics of optical transmittance against resistance with the optimal point of that relationship are presented in the paper. Moreover, dependency between arrangmenent of graphene nanoplatelets agglomerates and type of nano fillers is shown. Two groups of tested inks contain graphene nanoplatelets with different filler diameters. The third group contains carbon nanotubes. Described parameters are important for production process and results of analysis can be used by manufacturer working with elastic electronics.