Optical Properties of Pyrolytic Carbon Films Versus Graphite and Graphene

• Published in: Nanoscale research letters Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 946
• Main Authors: Dovbeshko, Galyna I, Romanyuk, Volodymyr R, Pidgirnyi, Denys V, Cherepanov, Vsevolod V, Andreev, Eugene O, Levin, Vadim M, Kuzhir, Polina P, Kaplas, Tommi, Svirko, Yuri P
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 27-05-2015; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Chemistry and Materials Science; Materials Science; Molecular Medicine; Nano Express; Nanochemistry; Nanoscale Science and Technology; Nanotechnology; Nanotechnology and Microengineering; 78.66.Db; Pyrolytic carbon films; Optical properties; Graphite; 81.05.U; 78.20.Ci; Graphene layers
• ISSN: 1931-7573; 1556-276X
• DOI: 10.1186/s11671-015-0946-8

We report a comparative study of optical properties of 5–20 nm thick pyrolytic carbon (PyC) films, graphite, and graphene. The complex dielectric permittivity of PyC is obtained by measuring polarization-sensitive reflectance and transmittance spectra of the PyC films deposited on silica substrate. The Lorentz-Drude model describes well the general features of the optical properties of PyC from 360 to 1100 nm. By comparing the obtained results with literature data for graphene and highly ordered pyrolytic graphite, we found that in the visible spectral range, the effective dielectric permittivity of the ultrathin PyC films are comparable with those of graphite and graphene.