Issue 23, 2011
From the journal:

Soft Matter

Liquid crystals of aqueous, giant graphene oxide flakes†

Budhadipta Dan,ad   Natnael Behabtu,b   Angel Martinez,d   Julian S. Evans,d   Dmitry V. Kosynkin,c   James M. Tour,c   Matteo Pasquali*bc  and  Ivan I. Smalyukh*def  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Physics and Astronomy, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas, USA

b Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas, USA
E-mail: mp@rice.edu

c Department of Chemistry, R. E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science & Technology, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas, USA

d Department of Physics, 2000 Colorado Ave, Boulder, Colorado, USA
E-mail: ivan.smalyukh@colorado.edu

e Materials Science and Engineering Graduate Program, and Liquid Crystal Materials Research Center, University of Colorado, 2000 Colorado Ave, Boulder, Colorado, USA

f Renewable and Sustainable Energy Institute, University of Colorado and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Boulder, Colorado, USA

Abstract

We report the observation of liquid crystals formed by giant graphene oxide flakes (aspect ratio above 10 000) suspended in water. As their concentration increases, the flakes undergo transitions from an isotropic dispersion to a biphasic system and then to a discotic nematic liquid crystal. The gel-like liquid crystal displays an unusual defect-free uniform director alignment over hundreds of micrometres. We characterize the nematic order parameter, optical birefringence and elastic properties of this novel mesomorphic system.

Graphical abstract: Liquid crystals of aqueous, giant graphene oxide flakes

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C1SM06418E
Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Jul 2011
Accepted
19 Sep 2011
First published
20 Oct 2011

Soft Matter, 2011,7, 11154-11159

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Liquid crystals of aqueous, giant graphene oxide flakes

B. Dan, N. Behabtu, A. Martinez, J. S. Evans, D. V. Kosynkin, J. M. Tour, M. Pasquali and I. I. Smalyukh, Soft Matter, 2011, 7, 11154 DOI: 10.1039/C1SM06418E

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