Wet-Spun Continuous Graphene Films

Abstract

Macroscopic assembled, self-standing graphene and graphene oxide (GO) films have been demonstrated as promising materials in many emerging fields, such as Li ion battery electrodes, supercapacitors, heat spreaders, gas separation, and water desalination. Such films were mainly available on centimeter-scale via the time- and energy-consuming vacuum-filtration method, which seriously impedes their progress and large-scale applications. Due to the incompatibility between large-scale and ordered assembly structures, it remains a big challenge to access large-area assembled graphene thick films. Here, we report for the first time a fast wet-spinning assembly strategy to produce continuous GO and graphene thick films. A 20 m long, 5 cm wide, well-defined GO film was readily achieved at a speed of 1 m min–1. The continuous, strong GO films were easily woven into bamboo-mat-like fabrics and scrolled into highly flexible continuous fibers. The reduced graphene films with high thermal and moderate electrical conductivities were directly used as fast-response deicing electrothermal mats. The fast yet controllable wet-spinning assembly approach paves the way for industrial-scale utilization of graphene.