Liquid crystal graphene oxide with different layers: fabrication, characterization and applications

Abstract

A series of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets with monolayer, bilayer and multilayer structures were prepared merely via a simple centrifugation method. It is noticeable that the as-prepared bilayer and multilayer GO nanosheet aqueous dispersions exhibit liquid crystal (LC) behavior. Not only the liquid- but also the solid-state of the obtained GO presented prominent functional LC behavior. Then, GO films were fabricated via simple drop-casting of concentrated GO (cGO) aqueous dispersions that retain the radial schlieren texture and show excellent electrical conductivities of 12 S cm⁻¹ after chemical reduction. Thus it can be expected that utilizing the coating property of GO aqueous dispersions as well as the prominent birefringent linear features of the cGO films will have great potential for preparation of functional anti-counterfeiting components and energy materials.