Laser-Guided, Self-Confined Graphitization for High-Conductivity Embedded Electronics.

Facile fabrication of highly conductive and self-encapsulated graphene electronics is in urgent demand for carbon-based integrated circuits, field effect transistors, optoelectronic devices, and flexible sensors. The current fabrication of these electronic devices is mainly based on layer-by-layer techniques (separate circuit preparation and encapsulation procedures), which show multistep fabrication procedures, complicated renovation/repair procedures, and poor electrical property due to graphene oxidation and exfoliation. Here, we propose a laser-guided interfacial writing (LaserIW) technique based on self-confined, nickel-catalyzed graphitization to directly fabricate highly conductive, embedded graphene electronics inside multilayer structures. The doped nickel is used to induce chain carbonization, which firstly enhances the photothermal effect to increase the confined temperature for initial carbonization, and the generated carbon further increases the light-absorption capacity to fabricate high-quality graphene. Meanwhile, the nickel atoms contribute to the accelerated connection of carbon atoms. This interfacial carbonization inherently avoids the exfoliation and oxidation of the as-formed graphene, resulting in an 8-fold improvement in electrical conductivity (~20,000 S/m at 7,958 W/cm