Graphene microtubings: controlled fabrication and site-specific functionalization.
Manipulating graphene through engineering for macroscopic assemblies of practical importance is a big challenge. We develop a dually geometric confinement approach for the scalable preparation of meter-long graphene microtubings (μGTs) with a tunable diameter. They have strength comparable to graphene fiber and can be shaped to hierarchical multichannel μGT systems in a straightforward way. Of particular importance, μGTs can be selectively functionalized in a site-specific outer-wall, inner-wall, outer/inner-wall, and within-wall fashion, which endows the μGTs with unique properties for desirable applications. Apart from the magnetically and photoelectronically responsive μGTs developed here, a self-powered micromotor made of Pt inner-wall modified μGT showing agile motion in aqueous medium has been also achieved. Beyond the applications demonstrated in this study, the well-defined μGT systems can also play essential role in other important fields such as fluidics, catalysis, purification, separation, and sensing.
Key Laboratory of Cluster Science, Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China.
Chuangang
C
Hu
Yang
Y
Zhao
Huhu
H
Cheng
Yanhong
Y
Wang
Zelin
Z
Dong
Changcheng
C
Jiang
Xiangquan
X
Zhai
Lan
L
Jiang
Liangti
L
Qu