Surface Of Graphene Nanosheets Research Articles

The production of graphene nanosheets decorated with silver nanoparticles for use in transparent, conductive films

Aggregation and restacking of graphene nanosheets (GNS) can be efficiently inhibited by decorating the silver nanoparticles on the surface of GNS to form GNS/silver (GNS-Ag) composites, which can construct high transparent and electrically conductive thin films. Silver nanoparticles act as a useful nanospacer and conductor, which not only increase the interlayer distance but also improve the electrical conductivity between layers. A two-step reduction process using sodium borohydride and ethylene glycol was also demonstrated reducing graphene oxide to GNS efficiently. The GNS-Ag composite films showed a maximum sheet resistance of 93 Ω□ −1, while maintaining up to 78% light transmittance, which was two order of magnitude lower than that of GNS (8.2 × 10 3 Ω□ −1, 81%), and the value of DC conductivity to optical conductivity ratio was 13.5 instead of 0.25.

Microwave-assisted covalent modification of graphene nanosheets with chitosan and its electrorheological characteristics

Biofunctionalization and manipulating of graphene nanosheets (GNS) are important for biomedical research and application. Chitosan (CS) modified graphene nanosheets have been successfully prepared under microwave irradiation in N,N-dimethylformamide medium, which involved the reaction between the carboxyl groups of graphene oxide nanosheets (GONS) and the amido groups of chitosan followed by the reduction of graphene oxide nanosheets into graphene nanosheets using hydrazine hydrate. The as-prepared graphene nanosheets–chitosan (GNS–CS) nanocomposites have been characterized by FTIR, TEM, FESEM, XRD and TG. The results showed that chitosan was covalently grafted onto the surface of graphene nanosheets via amido bonds. Solubility measurements indicated that the resultant nanocomposites dispersed well in aqueous acetic acid. Especially, the electrorheological (ER) properties of the GNS–CS nanocomposites have been investigated. It is believed that this new nanocomposites may be promising for biomedical applications.

In situ Controllable Growth of Prussian Blue Nanocubes on Reduced Graphene Oxide: Facile Synthesis and Their Application as Enhanced Nanoelectrocatalyst for H2O2 Reduction

As a single-atom-thick carbon material with high surface area and conductivity, graphene provides an ideal platform for designing composite nanomaterials for high-performance electrocatalytic or electrochemical devices. Herein, we demonstrated a facile strategy for controllably growing high-quality Prussian blue nanocubes on the surface of reduced graphene oxide (PBNCs/rGO), which represents a new type of graphene/transition metal complex heterostructure. The merit of this method is that the composite nanomaterials could be produced directly from GO in an in situ wet-chemical reaction, where the reduction of GO and the deposition of PBNCs occurred simultaneously. The obtained composite nanomaterials were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical techniques. It was found that uniform PBNCs with controlled size and good dispersion were directly grown on the surface of graphene nanosheets. Moreover, we also investigated the performance of PBNCs/rGO nanocomposites as amperometric sensor toward reduction of H(2)O(2). Such a sensor showed a rapid and highly sensitive response to H(2)O(2) with a low detection limit (45 nM), which might find promising applications in developing a new type of enzymeless biosensor.

Fabrication of graphene/prussian blue composite nanosheets and their electrocatalytic reduction of H 2O 2

In this work, graphene/prussian blue (PB) composite nanosheets with good dispersibility in aqueous solutions have been synthesized by mixing ferric-(III) chloride and potassium ferricyanide in the presence of graphene under ambient conditions. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) shows that the average size of the as-synthesized PB nanoparticles on the surface of graphene nanosheets is about 20 nm. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns have been used to characterize the chemical composition of the obtained graphene/PB composite nanosheets. The graphene/PB composite nanosheets exhibit good electrocatalytic behavior to detection of H 2O 2 at an applied potential of −0.05 V. The sensor shows a good linear dependence on H 2O 2 concentration in the range of 0.02–0.2 mM with a sensitivity of 196.6 μA mM −1 cm −2. The detection limit is 1.9 μM at the signal-to-noise ratio of 3. Furthermore, the graphene/PB modified electrode exhibits freedom of interference from other co-existing electroactive species. This work provides a new kind of composite modified electrode for amperometric biosensors.

Cyclodextrin Functionalized Graphene Nanosheets with High Supramolecular Recognition Capability: Synthesis and Host−Guest Inclusion for Enhanced Electrochemical Performance

Cyclodextrins (CDs) are oligosaccharides composed of six, seven, or eight glucose units (alpha-, beta-, or gamma-CD, respectively), which are toroidal in shape with a hydrophobic inner cavity and a hydrophilic exterior. These interesting characteristics can enable them to bind selectively various organic, inorganic and biological guest molecules into their cavities to form stable host-guest inclusion complexes or nanostructured supramolecular assemblies in their hydrophobic cavity. On the other hand graphene nanosheet (GN), a rising-star material, holds great promise for potential applications in many technological fields due to its high surface areas, low cost, and high conductivity. If GNs are modified with CDs, it is possible to obtain new materials simultaneously possessing unique properties of GNs and cyclodextrins through combining their individual obvious advantages. In this article, we demonstrate for the first time a simple wet-chemical strategy for the preparation of CD-graphene organic-inorganic hybrid nanosheets (CD-GNs), which exhibited high solubility and stability in polar solvent. The obtained CD-GNs were characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, static contact angle measurement, thermogravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, which confirmed that CD had been effectively functionalized on the surface of GNs. Furthermore, the formation mechanism of CD-GNs was also discussed. Interestingly, GNs here could load a number of CD molecules, which was very important for greatly enhancing the supramolecular function of CDs. Electrochemical results obviously reveal that CD-graphene organic-inorganic hybrid nanosheets could exhibit very high supramolecular recognition and enrichment capability and show much higher electrochemical response toward eight probe molecules (biomolecules and drugs) than unmodified GNs and carbon nanotubes, which is probably caused by the synergetic effects from GNs (high conductivity and high surface area) and CD molecules (host-guest recognition and enrichment).

Layer-by-Layer Self-Assembly for Constructing a Graphene/Platinum Nanoparticle Three-Dimensional Hybrid Nanostructure Using Ionic Liquid as a Linker

In this report, we succeed in constructing a hybrid three-dimensional (3D) nanocomposite film by alternatively assembling the graphene nanosheets modified by ionic liquid (IL) and Pt nanoparticles (Pt NPs). In this strategy, an imidazolium salt-based ionic liquid (IS-IL)-functionalized graphene was synthesized by covalently binding 1-(3-aminopropyl)-3-methylimidazolium bromide onto graphene nanosheets. The introduction of IS-IL on the surface of graphene nanosheets can obtain dispersed graphene nanosheets with positive charge. Also, the desired functionalization of graphene can form the building blocks for constructing hybrid 3D nanocomposite film. Then, the positively charged IS-IL-functionalized graphene nanosheets are strong enough to drive the formation of the 3D nanomaterials with negatively charged citrate-stabilized Pt NPs through electrostatic interaction. As far as we know, the reports on the layer-by-layer (LBL) self-assembly of G-IS-IL and nanoparticle multilayer films are few at the moment. UV-visible-near-infrared (UV-vis-NIR) absorption spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy (AFM) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) were used to characterize the uniform growth of the multilayer film. The newly prepared 3D nanomaterials containing G-IS-IL and Pt NPs show high electrocatalytic activity toward oxygen reduction. Furthermore, the electrocatalytic activity of the films could be further tailored by simply choosing different cycles in the LBL process. This demonstration offers a new route to assemble graphene/nanoparticle multilayer films and opens up the possibility of building more complex multicomponent nanostructures, which are believed to be useful for electrochemical nanodevices.

Three-Dimensional Pt-on-Pd Bimetallic Nanodendrites Supported on Graphene Nanosheet: Facile Synthesis and Used as an Advanced Nanoelectrocatalyst for Methanol Oxidation

Graphene nanosheet, the hottest material in physics and materials science, has been studied extensively because of its unique electronic, thermal, mechanical, and chemical properties arising from its strictly 2D structure and because of its potential technical applications. Particularly, these remarkable characteristics enable it to be a promising candidate as a new 2D support to load metal nanoparticles (NPs) for application in fuel cells. However, constructing high-quality graphene/bimetallic NP hybrids with high electrochemical surface area (ECSA) remains a great challenge to date. In this paper, we demonstrate for the first time a wet-chemical approach for the synthesis of high-quality three-dimensional (3D) Pt-on-Pd bimetallic nanodendrites supported on graphene nanosheets (TP-BNGN), which represents a new type of graphene/metal heterostructure. The resulting hybrids were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, and electrochemical technique. It is found that small single-crystal Pt nanobranches supported on Pd NCs with porous structure and good dispersion were directly grown onto the surface of graphene nanosheets, which exhibits high electrochemical active area. Furthermore, the number of nanobranches for Pt-on-Pd bimetallic nanodendrites on the surface of graphene nanosheets could be easily controlled via simply changing the synthetic parameters, thus resulting in the tunable catalytic properties. Most importantly, the electrochemical data indicate that the as-prepared graphene/bimetallic nanodendrite hybrids exhibited much higher electrocatalytic activity toward methanol oxidation reaction than the platinum black (PB) and commercial E-TEK Pt/C catalysts.

Enhanced Electrocatalytic Activity of Pt Subnanoclusters on Graphene Nanosheet Surface

Graphene nanosheet (GNS) gives rise to an extraordinary modification to the properties of Pt cluster electrocatalysts supported on it. The Pt/GNS electrocatalyst revealed an unusually high activity for methanol oxidation reaction compared to Pt/carbon black catalyst. The Pt/GNS electrocatalyst also revealed quite a different characteristic for CO oxidation among the measured catalyst samples. It is found that Pt particles below 0.5 nm in size are formed on GNS, which would acquire the specific electronic structures of Pt, modifying its catalytic activities.