Ambient Processing and Patterning of Graphene Oxide across Multiple Length Scales

氧化石墨烯是一种原子级薄的材料，具有独特的可调特性，使其在柔性电子、储能、传感器、复合材料和生物医学工程中的应用前景广阔。氧化石墨烯的多功能性在于其结构，其包括具有和不具有附接到底层碳原子晶格的氧原子的区域。当氧原子被去除时，氧化石墨烯的电学、光学和化学性质会发生显着变化。然而，用于除氧的标准方法涉及剧毒化学品或在无湿度和无氧环境中暴露于高温，这些条件不适于大规模制造。该奖项将开发通过环境友好和易于实施的过程选择性地调整氧化石墨烯的氧含量所需的基础知识，具有前所未有的空间控制。这种能力将使石墨烯氧化物广泛集成到能源，医疗保健，电子和运输技术的设备中，从而造福社会。该项目的教育部分将通过纳米材料主题的实践活动，提高处境不利的中学生对科学的兴趣，并通过参加实验室图尔斯参观和研究，保持高等教育层次对科学的兴趣。电压诱导氧化石墨烯还原提供了一种调整氧化石墨烯特性和在环境条件下将异质功能图案化为氧化石墨烯片和膜的方法。目前，对该过程的动力学、机制和限制或所得材料的性质知之甚少。该奖项将有助于获得对这种新还原方法的加工，结构和电功能之间联系的基本见解。纳米探针引发的还原将用于确定基于电压的还原的空间分辨率限制和动力学，同时为研究还原氧化石墨烯中的纳米尺度尺寸效应提供平台。将基于电压的还原扩展到介观和宏观长度尺度将使所得材料的化学结构和电输运表征成为可能，并阐明电压诱导还原作为大规模制造过程的可行性。

Graphene oxide is an atomically-thin material with a unique set of tunable properties, making it promising for applications in flexible electronics, energy storage, sensors, composite materials, and biomedical engineering. The versatility of graphene oxide lies in its structure that includes regions with and without oxygen atoms attached to the underlying carbon atom lattice. When oxygen atoms are removed, the electrical, optical, and chemical properties of graphene oxide are dramatically altered. Standard methods for oxygen removal, however, involve highly toxic chemicals or exposure to high temperatures in humidity- and oxygen-free environments, conditions that are not amenable to large-scale manufacturing. This award will develop the fundamental knowledge needed to selectively tune the oxygen content of graphene oxide with unprecedented spatial control through an environmentally benign and easily implemented process. Such capabilities will benefit society by enabling the widespread integration of graphene oxide into devices for energy, healthcare, electronics, and transportation technologies. The educational component of the project will promote interest in science among disadvantaged middle school students though hands-on nanomaterials-themed activities, and sustain interest in science at higher education levels through participation in laboratory tours and research.Voltage-induced graphene oxide reduction offers a means of tuning the properties of graphene oxide and patterning heterogeneous functionalities into graphene oxide sheets and films under ambient conditions. At present, little is known about the kinetics, mechanisms, and limits of the process or the properties of the resulting material. This award will help gain fundamental insights into the links between processing, structure, and electrical function for this new reduction method. Nanoprobe-initiated reduction will be used to determine the spatial resolution limits and kinetics of voltage-based reduction, while providing a platform for investigating nanoscale size-effects in reduced graphene oxide. The extension of voltage-based reduction to mesoscopic and macroscopic length scales will enable chemical structure and electrical transport characterization of the resulting material and elucidate the viability of voltage-induced reduction as a large-scale manufacturing process.