Direct growth of graphene on traditional glasses is of great importance for various daily life applications. We report herein the catalyst-free atmospheric-pressure chemical vapor deposition approach to directly synthesizing large-area, uniform graphene films on solid glasses. The optical transparency and sheet resistance of such kinds of graphene glasses can be readily adjusted together with the experimentally tunable layer thickness of graphene. More significantly, these graphene glasses find a broad range of real applications by enabling the low-cost construction of heating devices, transparent electrodes, photocatalytic plates, and smart windows. With a practical scalability, the present work will stimulate various applications of transparent, electrically and thermally conductive graphene glasses in real-life scenarios.

Visual electrophysiology measurements are important for ophthalmic diagnostic testing. Electrodes with combined optical transparency and softness are highly desirable, and sometimes indispensable for many ocular electrophysiology measurements. Here we report the fabrication of soft graphene contact lens electrodes (GRACEs) with broad-spectrum optical transparency, and their application in conformal, full-cornea recording of electroretinography (ERG) from cynomolgus monkeys. The GRACEs give higher signal amplitude than conventional ERG electrodes in recordings of various full-field ERG responses. High-quality topographic mapping of multifocal ERG under simultaneous fundus monitoring is realized. A conformal and tight interface between the GRACEs and cornea is revealed. Neither corneal irritation nor abnormal behavior of the animals is observed after ERG measurements with GRACEs. Furthermore, spatially resolved ERG recordings on rabbits with graphene multi-electrode array reveal a stronger signal at the central cornea than the periphery. These results demonstrate the unique capabilities of the graphene-based electrodes for in vivo visual electrophysiology studies.

The direct growth of uniform graphene disks and their continuous film is achieved by exploiting the molten state of glass. The use of molten glass enables highly uniform nucleation and an enhanced growth rate (tenfold) of graphene, as compared to those scenarios on commonly used insulating solids. The obtained graphene glasses show promising application potentials in daily-life scenarios such as smart heating devices and biocompatible cell-culture mediums.

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