In the context of graphene-based composite applications, a complete understanding of charge conduction in multilayer reduced graphene oxides (rGO) is highly desirable. However, these rGO compounds are characterized by multiple and different sources of disorder depending on the chemical method used for their synthesis. Most importantly, the precise role of interlayer interaction in promoting or jeopardizing electronic flow remains unclear. Here, thanks to the development of a multiscale computational approach combining first-principles calculations with large-scale transport simulations, the transport scaling laws in multilayer rGO are unraveled, explaining why diffusion worsens with increasing film thickness. In contrast, contacted films are found to exhibit an opposite trend when the mean free path becomes shorter than the channel length, since conduction becomes predominantly driven by interlayer hopping. These predictions are favorably compared with experimental data and open a road toward the optimization of graphene-based composites with improved electrical conduction.

18 pages. -- Kubo-Greenwood and Landauer-B uttiker methods. -- Supplementary details on simulated structures. -- Supplementary details regarding tight-binding parameters. -- Note on parametrization and system setups. -- Supplementary mean-free-path plots. -- Supplementary results with lower defect concentrations. -- Supplementary LDOS plots. -- Temperature dependence of electrical resistivity p(T), Efros-Shklovskii variable range hopping model. -- Electrical resistivity measurements p(T)

Peer reviewed