A novel approach for transferring water-dispersible graphenenanosheets into organic media

Abstract

Graphene, which is in the form of chemically reduced graphene oxide (r-GO), has been homogeneously dispersed in organic media without the addition of complicated dispersing agents or the need for functionalization of the starting graphene oxides. The aqueous colloids of r-GO sheets are synthesized in an alkaline solution. By using NaCl salts as flocculants, the resultant r-GO aggregates can be easily redispersed in appropriate organic media as individual nanosheets with the aid of sonication, which is a facile and economical approach for the large-scale production of graphene dispersions in organic solvents with high concentrations. The homogeneous graphene organic dispersion facilitates solution-processing procedures for incorporating graphene materials into novel composites and other applications.