Titanium oxide – reduced graphene oxide – silver composite layers synthesized by laser technique: Wetting and electrical properties

Electrically conductive and highly hydrophobic surface layers are attractive for many practical applications. In this work the functional, wetting and electrical properties of titanium dioxide (TiO2), TiO2/silver (Ag), and TiO2/reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/Ag nanocomposite coatings layers are reported. The functional properties of the layers were correlated with their chemical composition and bonding states between the constituent elements, determined in turn by the synthesis and immobilization process parameters. The nanocomposite coatings were obtained by matrix assisted pulsed laser evaporation, a laser-based environmental friendly thin film deposition technique. The synthesized ternary TiO2/rGO/Ag coatings has optimum performances, highly hydrophobic character and low electrical resistance, attributed to the presence of Ag nanoparticles and to the reduction of the oxygen containing functional groups of the GO platelets during laser irradiation and transfer processes leading to the formation of graphene-like material.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Romanian Ministry of Education and Scientific Research under the contract PN-IIPT-PCCA-2011-3.2-1235 and the Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry under the contract ENE2014-56109-C3-3-R. ICMAB acknowledges financial support from the Spanish Economy and Competitiveness Ministry, through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496).Peer reviewe