Robust adhesion between various surfaces enabled by lamellar stacking of graphene oxide nanosheets

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) has long been recognized as a mass-produced and easily processable precursor for acquiring graphene-like materials. However, as amphiphilic two-dimensional nanosheets, its potential adhesivity for interfacial bonding has yet to be explored. Here, we show that evaporation-induced lamellar GO assemblies serve as pure and robust adhesion layers for various types of surfaces. As an allotrope of carbon with less oxidative functional groups, reduced GO (rGO) demonstrates great potential in adhering carbon materials with improved shear adhesion strength (46.5 N/cm2), heat-tolerance (1000 °C), and chemical-resistance. Under harsh conditions, it outperforms commercial epoxy adhesives in terms of conductivity and stability. The exploration of the adhesivity of GO-based materials shed light on new adhesives and opens up more possibilities in their further applications.