One-pot self-assembly of three-dimensional graphene macroassemblies with porous core and layered shell

Abstract

The innate character of graphene, defined as the basic unit of sp²carbon materials, provides opportunities for the design and construction of carbon nanostructures with tuned properties. Here, we report a novel three-dimensional graphene macroassembly with a core–shell structure starting from reduced graphene oxides (RGO) by a one-pot self-assembly process under very mild conditions. In the presence of KMnO₄, such an assembly process is initiated by low-temperature heating below 100 °C at atmospheric pressure and is totally free from a severe hydrothermal process. Such a core–shell structure is characterized by a porous core and layered membrane shell, and the macro-morphology and infrastructure of the macroassembly are well controllable and tunable. The macroassembly presented here and its self-assembly preparation directly from graphene nanosheets present the first example of the simultaneous formation of a coaxial hybrid infrastructure in a graphene-based nanostructured material, and such a core–shell structured macroassembly shows potential for use in energy storage and other applications.