A nanoscale liquid-like graphene@Fe3O4 hybrid with excellent amphiphilicity and electronic conductivity

Abstract

A nanoscale liquid-like graphene@Fe₃O₄ hybrid was firstly obtained by using sulfuric acid terminated organosilanes as corona and polyether amine as canopy. The microstructures, rheological properties, solubility, magnetic properties and electronic conductivity of the hybrid have been extensively characterized by various analytical techniques. The hybrid is a superparamagnetic material with a specific magnetization of 0.39 emu g⁻¹, which is a Newtonian fluid with liquid-like behavior at room temperature. At the same time, the hybrid shows excellent amphiphilicity and electronic conductivity. These unique properties of the hybrid make it very promising for producing supercapacitors, batteries and nanocomposites. In addition, it can act as a special ferrofluid and can be used as a kind of graphene lubricant. Most importantly, the successful preparation of a liquid-like graphene@Fe₃O₄ hybrid may provide new insight and assist the efficient preparation of other kinds of liquid-like nanocrystal graphene hybrids, such as graphene@SiO₂ and graphene-POSS, which can also be used in the fabrication of graphene based nanocomposites.