Three-Dimensional Self-Assembly of Graphene Oxide Platelets into Mechanically Flexible Macroporous Carbon Films

摘要

Graphene is an atom-thick, two-dimensional material com-prised of a monolayer hexagonal sp~2-hybridized carbons. It is flexible, has a large specific surface area, and exhibits excellent electrical and thermal conductivities and also good mechanical properties. Moreover, given the low cost of natural graphite, the potential for obtaining large quantities of graphene by a low-cost production process is high. As such, graphene and its chemically modified forms are promising building blocks for accessing highly ordered assemblies that are suitable for nanoelectronics, energy storage/conversion, catalysis, composites, and other applications. Although previous efforts have demonstrated that graphene-based platelets may be assembled into papers, thin films, or other two-dimensional constructs, the ability to control the assembly such platelets into three-dimensional (3D) structures could result in the carbon materials that exhibit very large surface areas, unusual or novel physical and electronic properties, unsurpassed chemical functionality, and other attractive features that are necessary for the aforementioned applications.