Ice crystal guided folding of graphene oxides in a confined space: a facile approach to 1D functional graphene structures

Abstract

The controlled conformational changes of planar graphene nanosheets are of great importance to the realization of their practical applications. Despite substantial effort in the area, the controlled folding of two-dimensional (2D) graphene sheets into one-dimensional (1D) structures still remains a significant challenge. Here, for the first time, we report an ice crystal guided folding strategy to fabricate 1D folded graphene nanobelts (FGBs), where the formation and growth of ice crystals in a confined space function to guide the folding of 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets into 1D nanobelts (i.e. folded graphene oxide belts, FGOBs), which were subsequently converted to FGBs after annealing. Thin aqueous GO containing films were obtained by blowing air through a GO dispersion in the presence of a surfactant, polyoxypropylenediamine (D₄₀₀), resulting in a foam containing uniform air bubbles. Subsequent shock cooling of the foam using liquid nitrogen resulted in the facile fabrication of FGOBs. This technique provides a general approach to encapsulate catalytic nanomaterials such as Fe₃O₄ nanorods, TiO₂ and Co₃O₄ nanoparticles into the folded graphene structure for practical applications such as Li-ion batteries.