Graphene,a perfect two-dimensional (2D) nanostructure,is an ideal template for 2D material design.We developed a graphenetemplated method to synthesize 2D silica nanosheets through the crosslinking of poly(3-methacryloxypropyl trimethoxysilane)grafted graphene oxide (GO-g-PMPS),followed by pyrolysis at 700℃ for 10 h.
We prepared hyper-oxidized graphene(HOG) as a form of graphene derivative by additional oxidation of graphene oxide(GO) sheets. HOG, which formed more functional groups and isolated conjugated clusters on the sheets, accordingly showed high solubility in water and alcohols, high transmittance and film transparence, longer fluorescence decay constant time, and enhanced fluorescence in states of solution and solid. By contrast, GO has much weaker fluorescence in solution and its fluorescence is totally quenched in solid. The influences of concentration, metallic ions, and pH on HOG fluorescence in aqueous solution were also investigated in detail. Due to HOG's strong fluorescence, direct visualization was realized on substrates and in solution. In addition, direct 3D fluorescence visualizations of HOG phase in polymer composites were achieved. These results show the great potential of HOG in a broad range of applications, from biological labeling, probes, and drug carriers to highperformance composites and nanomanipulation.
Nacre is a lightweight, strong, stiff, and tough material, which makes it a mimicking object for material design. Many attempts to mimic nacre by various methods resulted in the synthesis of artificial nacre with excellent properties. However, the fabrication procedure was very laborious and time-consuming due to the sequential steps, and only limited-sized materials could be obtained. Hence, a novel design enabling scalable production of high-performance artificial nacre with uniform layered structures is urgently needed. We developed a novel wet-spinning assembly technique to rapidly manufacture continuous nacre- mimic graphene oxide （GO, brick）-sodium alginate （SA, mortar） films and fibers with excellent mechanical properties. At high concentrations, the GO-SA mixtures spontaneously produced liquid crystals （LCs） due to the template effect of GO, and continuous, 6 m long nacre-like GO-SA films were wet-spun from the obtained GO-SA liquid crystalline （LC） dope with a speed of up to 1.5 m/min. The assembled macroscopic GO-SA composites inherited the alignment of the GO sheets from the LC phase, and their mechanical properties were investigated by a joint experimental-computational study. The tensile tests revealed that the maximum strength （0） and Young＇s modulus （E） of the obtained films reached 239.6 MPa and 22.4 GPa, while the maximum values of o and E for the fibers were 784.9 MPa and 58 GPa, respectively. The described wet-spinning assembly method is applicable for a large-scale and fast production of high-performance continuous artificial nacre.
