Effect of graphite oxide structure on the formation of stable self-assembled conductive reduced graphite oxide hydrogel

Abstract

As a novel tissue engineering material and transistor, reduced graphite oxide (rGO) hydrogel is attracting more and more attention, and a stable and highly electrical conductive rGO hydrogel is the cornerstone for these applications. We controlled the structures of graphite oxides (GOs) with three different methods and the corresponding assembled rGO hydrogels were obtained using Vitamin C (VC) as the reducing agent and the stability and electrical resistance of the rGO hydrogel were studied. The results showed that the appropriate interlayer distance and grain size of GO prepared by two-step oxidation were beneficial for VC molecules to insert in the interspace between layers for the reduction. After reduction, the loose and tangled network structure was well assembled, which determines the stability and electrical conductivity of the resulted rGO hydrogel.