Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy enhancement of glass by few-layer graphene coating

We present, for the first time, the use of graphene layers on the surface of transparent samples (glass) to improve laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) performance. Our results show that the presence of few-layer graphene allows the optical emission of glass to be observed at lower irradiance than conventional LIBS. This effect is discussed in the frame of the absorption of the laser pulse by the graphene and the heat transfer to the beneath the sample. It is reported that the LIBS intensity increases with the number of graphene layers when it ranges from 6 to 15 layers. The surface of the sample after LIBS revealed that the graphene was almost completely removed after one pulse without causing apparent visible damage to the sample. The proposed method to improve LIBS in order to obtain a compelling characterization of transparent samples is both easy and cheap to implement.