Optical Characterisation of Non-Covalent Interactions between Non-Conjugated Polymers and Chemically Converted Graphene

摘要

Optical characterisation using dye molecules as probes was used to study the non-covalent interactions between chemically converted graphene (CCG) and non-conjugated, water soluble polymers in aqueous solution. The strong adsorption of non-conjugated polymers such as poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) on CCG is observed by fluorescence and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, and this leads to desorption of π-conjugated molecules from CCG. Such adsorption/desorption behaviour can be tailored by modifying the molecular weight of polymers and the chemistry of graphene. This finding provides a facile and non-covalent approach to the functionalisation of CCG and opens up new opportunities for the fabrication of graphene/polymer nanocomposites.