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Thermo‐Responsive Assembly of Chemically Reduced Graphene and Poly( N ‐isopropylacrylamide)
Author(s) -
Lee Da Young,
Yoon Seyoung,
Oh Yeon Jeong,
Park Sung Young,
In Insik
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201000518
Subject(s) - graphene , lower critical solution temperature , poly(n isopropylacrylamide) , aqueous solution , materials science , wetting , polymer chemistry , surface tension , chemical engineering , polymer , self assembly , copolymer , chemistry , nanotechnology , composite material , organic chemistry , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
A stable aqueous solution of reduced graphene is prepared by chemical reduction of GO in the presence of PNIPAM in water through the hydrophobic interaction between graphene plates and PNIPAM backbones. Thermosensitive solubility switching of the graphene/PNIPAM assembly was successfully demonstrated below or above the LCST, which is higher (up to 42 °C) than the LCST of pure PNIPAM (36 °C) because interacting PNIPAM chains on graphene plates are less mobile than free PNIPAM chains. The success of PNIPAM as stabilizer for reduced graphene solution can be explained by both efficient hydrophobic interaction with graphene surface and matching of surface tension of water (72.8 mJ · m −2 ) with “graphene‐friendly surface tension” (40–50 mJ · m −2 ) by the presence of PNIPAM in water (41.8 mJ · m −2 ).