Issue 6, 2017, Issue in Progress

A benzoxazine surfactant exchange for atomic force microscopy characterization of two dimensional materials exfoliated in aqueous surfactant solutions

Abstract

Liquid-phase exfoliation of two dimensional (2D) materials in aqueous solutions with stabilization via surfactants or polymers shows great potential for large scale production and integration into a breadth of applications. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is able to characterize thickness and the distribution of exfoliated 2D flakes, while often encountering difficulty because of re-aggregation during sample preparation. Herein, we report a surfactant exchange method with a benzoxazine surfactant for AFM sample preparation. Stable dispersions of 2D materials in chloroform could be obtained by switching a range of commonly used surfactants to this benzoxazine surfactant. The Langmuir–Blodgett method was used and flakes were kept intact with polydispersity of thickness. This method was utilized successfully on graphene as well as boron nitride and MoS2, and shows feasibility on other 2D materials.

Graphical abstract: A benzoxazine surfactant exchange for atomic force microscopy characterization of two dimensional materials exfoliated in aqueous surfactant solutions

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Nov 2016
Accepted
13 Dec 2016
First published
13 Jan 2017
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2017,7, 3222-3228

A benzoxazine surfactant exchange for atomic force microscopy characterization of two dimensional materials exfoliated in aqueous surfactant solutions

T. Wang, M. D. J. Quinn and Shannon M. Notley, RSC Adv., 2017, 7, 3222 DOI: 10.1039/C6RA26432H

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