title: Organic solvent-based graphene oxide liquid crystals: a facile route toward the next generation of self-assembled layer-by-layer multifunctional 3D architectures.
abstract: We introduce soft self-assembly of ultralarge liquid crystalline (LC) graphene oxide (GO) sheets in a wide range of organic solvents overcoming the practical limitations imposed on LC GO processing in water. This expands the number of known solvents which can support amphiphilic self-assembly to ethanol, acetone, tetrahydrofuran, N-dimethylformamide, N-cyclohexyl-2-pyrrolidone, and a number of other organic solvents, many of which were not known to afford solvophobic self-assembly prior to this report. The LC behavior of the as-prepared GO sheets in organic solvents has enabled us to disperse and organize substantial amounts of aggregate-free single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs, up to 10 wt %) without compromise in LC properties. The as-prepared LC GO-SWNT dispersions were employed to achieve self-assembled layer-by-layer multifunctional 3D hybrid architectures comprising SWNTs and GO with unrivalled superior mechanical properties (Young's modulus in excess of 50 GPa and tensile strength of more than 500 MPa).
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, ARC Centre of Excellence for Electromaterials Science, AIIM Facility, Innovation Campus, University of Wollongong, North Wollongong, NSW 2522 Australia.
authors.forename: Rouhollah
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Jalili
authors.forename: Seyed Hamed
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Aboutalebi
authors.forename: Dorna
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Esrafilzadeh
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Konstantinov
authors.forename: Simon E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Moulton
authors.forename: Joselito M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Razal
authors.forename: Gordon G
authors.initials: GG
authors.lastname: Wallace
mesh_terms: D006108:Graphite / Q000737:chemistry*; D050866:Liquid Crystals / Q000737:chemistry*; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008968:Molecular Conformation; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry; D009930:Organic Chemicals / Q000737:chemistry*; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D012997:Solvents / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D009930:Organic Chemicals; D010087:Oxides; D012997:Solvents; D006108:Graphite