Quantifying defect-enhanced chemical functionalization of single-layer graphene and its application in supramolecular assembly

Abstract

Defect engineering has been regarded as a promising strategy for tuning the chemical modification on graphene surfaces in order to achieve novel physicochemical properties. However, there have been very few studies that have quantitatively evaluated the activating effect of defects on chemical reactivity. Here we showed the controllable chemical functionalization of single-layer graphene (SLG) by defect engineering and quantitatively evaluated the activating effects of defects on their surrounding areas on graphene by a simplified geometric model. The tunable density of the grafted aryl group on SLGs by defect engineering was demonstrated to be able to direct sequential supramolecular assembly and spatial patterning was achieved.