Flexible Full-Surface Conformal Encapsulation for Each Fiber in Graphene Glass Fiber Fabric against Thermal Oxidation

• Published in: ACS applied materials & interfaces Vol. 14; no. 17; pp. 19889 - 19896
• Main Authors: Jiang, Jun, Cheng, Yi, Sun, Xiucai, Huang, Kewen, Wang, Kun, Cheng, Shuting, Yuan, Hao, Liu, Ruojuan, Li, Wenjuan, Zhang, Hui, Li, Junliang, Tu, Ce, Qi, Yue, Liu, Zhongfan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 04.05.2022
• Subjects: Functional Nanostructured Materials (including low-D carbon); graphene glass fiber fabric; high-temperature stability; electrothermal performances; oxidation resistance; h-BN encapsulation
• ISSN: 1944-8244; 1944-8252
• DOI: 10.1021/acsami.2c02979

Encapsulation for carbon-based electronic devices against oxidation can enhance their long-term working stability. Graphene glass fiber fabric (GGFF), as an advanced flexible electrothermal material, also struggles with graphene oxidation. The flexible, full-surface, conformal encapsulation for each fiber in the large-area fabric puts forward high requirements for encapsulating materials and techniques. Herein, the nanometer-thick h-BN layer was in situ grown on cambered surfaces of each fiber in GGFF with the chemical vapor deposition method. Stable heating duration (500 °C) of h-BN-encapsulated GGFF (h-BN/GGFF) was increased by 1 order of magnitude without compromising the electrothermal performances and flexibility. Theoretical simulations revealed that the enhanced oxidation resistance of h-BN/GGFF was attributed to the decreased interaction and adsorption life of oxygen. The proposed flexible, full-surface, conformal encapsulation technique targeting the fiber-shaped graphene electrothermal device is scalable and can be extended to the other carbon materials, even devices with intricate shapes, which will promote the development of flexible electronics.