Impermeable barrier films and protective coatings based on reduced graphene oxide

Tailored CVD graphene coating as a transparent and flexible gas barrier

The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method to obtain tailored graphene as a transparent and flexible gas barrier has been developed. By separating nucleation step from growth, we could reduce early graphene nucleation density and thus induce better stitching between domain boundaries in the second growth step. Furthermore, two step growth in conjunction with electrochemical polishing of Cu foils achieved large graphene domains and improved graphene quality with minimized defects. The performance of resulting graphene as a gas barrier was superior to the graphene obtained by one-step growth on polished or unpolished Cu foils. The CVD graphene reported here could open up the possibility for exploring graphene-based gas barrier due to the minimized density of defect area.

Recent Developments in Graphene-Based Membranes: Structure, Mass-Transport Mechanism and Potential Applications

Significant achievements have been made on the development of next-generation filtration and separation membranes using graphene materials, as graphene-based membranes can afford numerous novel mass-transport properties that are not possible in state-of-art commercial membranes, making them promising in areas such as membrane separation, water desalination, proton conductors, energy storage and conversion, etc. The latest developments on understanding mass transport through graphene-based membranes, including perfect graphene lattice, nanoporous graphene and graphene oxide membranes are reviewed here in relation to their potential applications. A summary and outlook is further provided on the opportunities and challenges in this arising field. The aspects discussed may enable researchers to better understand the mass-transport mechanism and to optimize the synthesis of graphene-based membranes toward large-scale production for a wide range of applications.

Subnanometer Two-Dimensional Graphene Oxide Channels for Ultrafast Gas Sieving

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with atomic thickness and extraordinary physicochemical properties exhibit unique mass transport behaviors, enabling them as emerging nanobuilding blocks for separation membranes. Engineering 2D materials into membrane with subnanometer apertures for precise molecular sieving remains a great challenge. Here, we report rational-designing external forces to precisely manipulate nanoarchitecture of graphene oxide (GO)-assembled 2D channels with interlayer height of ∼0.4 nm for fast transporting and selective sieving gases. The external forces are synergistic to direct the GO nanosheets stacking so as to realize delicate size-tailoring of in-plane slit-like pores and plane-to-plane interlayer-galleries. The 2D channels endow GO membrane with excellent molecular-sieving characteristics that offer 2-3 orders of magnitude higher H2 permeability and 3-fold enhancement in H2/CO2 selectivity compared with commercial membranes. Formation mechanism of 2D channels is proposed on the basis of the driving forces, nanostructures, and transport behaviors.

Ultrastrong, Chemically Resistant Reduced Graphene Oxide-based Multilayer Thin Films with Damage Detection Capability

Multilayer thin films of graphene oxide (GO) and poly(vinylamine) (PVAm) were deposited via layer-by-layer assembly. Poly(vinylamine) pH was used to tailor film thickness and GO layer spacing. Graphene oxide concentration in the films was controlled through simple pH adjustment. Thermal reduction of the PVAm/GO multilayer thin films rendered them electrically conductive, which could be further tailored with PVAm pH. These reduced films also exhibited exceptionally high elastic modulus of 30 GPa and hardness of 1.8 GPa, which are among the highest of any graphene-filled polymer composite values ever reported. Cross-linking of these films with glutaraldehyde improved their chemical resistance, allowing them to survive strongly acidic or salty solutions. Additionally, scratches in the films can be instantaneously detected by a simple electrical resistance measurement. These films are promising for a variety of packaging and electronic applications.

Three-Dimensional Graphene-Based Microbarriers for Controlling Release and Reactivity in Colloidal Liquid Phases

Two-dimensional materials are of great interest as high-performance molecular barriers. Graphene in particular is atomically thin, is impermeable to all molecules, and in some forms can be easily deposited over large areas into planar multilayer films that have been shown to suppress molecular transport. Graphene and graphene oxide sheets are also known to spontaneously self-assemble at liquid-liquid interfaces on the surfaces of dispersed droplets, but much less is known about the barrier properties of these ultrathin films in 3D curved microgeometries. This article demonstrates that 3D films self-assembled from graphene oxide or reduced graphene oxide sheets can be exploited to control the release of small molecules from dispersed liquid phase droplets by evaporation. The release rate and containment time can be tuned by addition of multivalent cations that recruit additional sheets from the bulk liquid to the interface, which is shown by molecular dynamics to occur by an electrostatic bridging mechanism. 3D graphene-based films on droplet surfaces can also be used to control the release and transport of soluble molecules from the droplet to surrounding bulk solvent phases. In some cases, the release can be effectively stopped to produce unique kinetically trapped emulsion phases consisting of two fully miscible but segregated liquids. Finally, interfacial graphene-based films are also shown to control interfacial chemical reaction processes by serving as transport barriers between the phases or by intercepting reactive cross-phase molecular collisions. This reaction control is demonstrated by using 3D graphene-based microbarriers to protect oxidation-sensitive oils from attack by aqueous-phase reactive oxygen species, which is an undesirable pathway implicated in many chemical product degradation and spoilage processes.

Failure of multi-layer graphene coatings in acidic media

A new failure mechanism for high-quality multilayer graphene coatings in acidic media is described.

Fabrication of reduced graphene oxide membranes for highly efficient water desalination

The resultant PDA–RGO membranes allow faster permeation of water compared with GO membranes, but a higher retention rate of solutes.

Robust Superhydrophobic Graphene-Based Composite Coatings with Self-Cleaning and Corrosion Barrier Properties

Superhydrophobic surfaces for self-cleaning applications often suffer from mechanical instability and do not function well after abrasion/scratching. To address this problem, we present a method to prepare graphene-based superhydrophobic composite coatings with robust mechanical strength, self-cleaning, and barrier properties. A suspension has been formulated that contains a mixture of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and diatomaceous earth (DE) modified with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) that can be applied on any surface using common coating methods such as spraying, brush painting, and dip coating. Inclusion of TiO2 nanoparticles to the formulation shows further increase in water contact angle (WCA) from 159 ± 2° to 170 ± 2° due to the structural improvement with hierarchical surface roughness. Mechanical stability and durability of the coatings has been achieved by using a commercial adhesive to bond the superhydrophobic "paint" to various substrates. Excellent retention of superhydrophobicity was observed even after sandpaper abrasion and crosscut scratching. A potentiodynamic polarization study revealed excellent corrosion resistance (96.78%) properties, and an acid was used to provide further insight into coating barrier properties. The ease of application and remarkable properties of this graphene-based composite coating show considerable potential for broad application as a self-cleaning and protective layer.

Large and pristine films of reduced graphene oxide

A new self-assembly concept is introduced to form large and pristine films (15 cm in diameter) of reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The resulting film has different degrees of polarity on its two different sides due to the characteristic nature of the self-assembly process. The RGO film can be easily transferred from a glass substrate onto water and a polymer substrate after injection of water molecules between the RGO film and glass substrate using an electric steamer. The RGO film can also be easily patterned into various shapes with a resolution of around ± 10 μm by a simple taping method, which is suitable for mass production of printed electronics at low cost.

Water flattens graphene wrinkles: laser shock wrapping of graphene onto substrate-supported crystalline plasmonic nanoparticle arrays

Hot electron injection into an exceptionally high mobility material can be realized in graphene-plasmonic nanoantenna hybrid nanosystems, which can be exploited for several front-edge applications including photovoltaics, plasmonic waveguiding and molecular sensing at trace levels. Wrinkling instabilities of graphene on these plasmonic nanostructures, however, would cause reactive oxygen or sulfur species to diffuse and react with the materials, decrease charge transfer rates and block intense hot-spots. No ex situ graphene wrapping technique has been explored so far to control these wrinkles. Here, we present a method to generate seamless integration by using water as a flyer to transfer the laser shock pressure to wrap graphene onto plasmonic nanocrystals. This technique decreases the interfacial gap between graphene and the covered substrate-supported plasmonic nanoparticle arrays by exploiting a shock pressure generated by the laser ablation of graphite and the water impermeable nature of graphene. Graphene wrapping of chemically synthesized crystalline gold nanospheres, nanorods and bipyramids with different field confinement capabilities is investigated. A combined experimental and computational method, including SEM and AFM morphological investigation, molecular dynamics simulation, and Raman spectroscopy characterization, is used to demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique. Graphene covered gold bipyramid exhibits the best result among the hybrid nanosystems studied. We have shown that the hybrid system fabricated by laser shock can be used for enhanced molecular sensing. The technique developed has the characteristics of tight integration, and chemical/thermal stability, is instantaneous in nature, possesses a large scale and room temperature processing capability, and can be further extended to integrate other 2D materials with various 0-3D nanomaterials.

Long-Term Passivation of Strongly Interacting Metals with Single-Layer Graphene

The long-term (>18 months) protection of Ni surfaces against oxidation under atmospheric conditions is demonstrated by coverage with single-layer graphene, formed by chemical vapor deposition. In situ, depth-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy of various graphene-coated transition metals reveals that a strong graphene-metal interaction is of key importance in achieving this long-term protection. This strong interaction prevents the rapid intercalation of oxidizing species at the graphene-metal interface and thus suppresses oxidation of the substrate surface. Furthermore, the ability of the substrate to locally form a passivating oxide close to defects or damaged regions in the graphene overlayer is critical in plugging these defects and preventing oxidation from proceeding through the bulk of the substrate. We thus provide a clear rationale for understanding the extent to which two-dimensional materials can protect different substrates and highlight the key implications for applications of these materials as barrier layers to prevent oxidation.

Enhancing the Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of Graphene in Organic Solvents upon Addition of n-Octylbenzene

Due to a unique combination of electrical and thermal conductivity, mechanical stiffness, strength and elasticity, graphene became a rising star on the horizon of materials science. This two-dimensional material has found applications in many areas of science ranging from electronics to composites. Making use of different approaches, unfunctionalized and non-oxidized graphene sheets can be produced; among them an inexpensive and scalable method based on liquid-phase exfoliation of graphite (LPE) holds potential for applications in opto-electronics and nanocomposites. Here we have used n-octylbenzene molecules as graphene dispersion-stabilizing agents during the graphite LPE process. We have demonstrated that by tuning the ratio between organic solvents such as N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone or ortho-dichlorobenzene, and n-octylbenzene molecules, the concentration of exfoliated graphene can be enhanced by 230% as a result of the high affinity of the latter molecules for the basal plane of graphene. The LPE processed graphene dispersions were further deposited onto solid substrates by exploiting a new deposition technique called spin-controlled drop casting, which was shown to produce uniform highly conductive and transparent graphene films.

Adsorbent 2D and 3D carbon matrices with protected magnetic iron nanoparticles

We report on the synthesis of two and three dimensional carbonaceous sponges produced directly from graphene oxide (GO) into which functionalized iron nanoparticles can be introduced to render it magnetic. This simple, low cost procedure, wherein an iron polymeric resin precursor is introduced into the carbon framework, results in carbon-based materials with specific surface areas of the order of 93 and 66 m(2) g(-1), compared to approx. 4 m(2) g(-1) for graphite, decorated with ferromagnetic iron nanoparticles giving coercivity fields postulated to be 216 and 98 Oe, values typical for ferrite magnets, for 3.2 and 13.5 wt% Fe respectively. The strongly magnetic iron nanoparticles are robustly anchored to the GO sheets by a layer of residual graphite, on the order of 5 nm, formed during the pyrolysis of the precursor material. The applicability of the carbon sponges is demonstrated in their ability to absorb, store and subsequently elute an organic dye, Rhodamine B, from water as required. It is possible to regenerate the carbon-iron hybrid material after adsorption by eluting the dye with a solvent to which it has a high affinity, such as ethanol. The use of a carbon framework opens the hybrid materials to further chemical functionalization, for enhanced chemical uptake of contaminants, or co-decoration with, for example, silver nanoparticles for bactericidal properties. Such analytical properties, combined with the material's magnetic character, offer solutions for environmental decontamination at land and sea, wastewater purification, solvent extraction, and for the concentration of dilute species.

Gas-Barrier Hybrid Coatings by the Assembly of Novel Poly(vinyl alcohol) and Reduced Graphene Oxide Layers through Cross-Linking with Zirconium Adducts

Gas-barrier materials obtained by coating poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) substrates have already been studied in the recent literature. However, because of the benefits of using cheaper, biodegradable, and nonpolar polymers, multilayered hybrid coatings consisting of alternate layers of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) nanosheets and a novel high amorphous vinyl alcohol (HAVOH) with zirconium (Zr) adducts as binders were successfully fabricated through a layer-by-layer (LbL) assembly approach. Atomic force microscopy analysis showed that rGO nanoplatelets were uniformly dispersed over the HAVOH polymer substrate. Scanning and transmission electron microscopies revealed that multilayer (HAVOH/Zr/rGO)n hybrid coatings exhibited a brick-wall structure with HAVOH and rGO as buildings blocks. It has been shown that 40 layers of HAVOH/Zr/rGO ultrathin films deposited on PET substrates lead to a decrease of 1 order of magnitude of oxygen permeability with respect to the pristine PET substrate. This is attributed to the effect of zirconium polymeric adducts, which enhance the assembling efficiency of rGO and compact the layers, as confirmed by NMR characterization, resulting in a significant increment of the oxygen-transport pathways. Because of their high barrier properties and high flexibility, these films are promising candidates in a variety of applications such as packaging, selective gas films, and protection of flexible electronics.

Advanced Anticorrosion Coating Materials Derived from Sunflower Oil with Bifunctional Properties

High-performance barrier films preventing permeation of moisture, aggressive chloride ions, and corrosive acids are important for many industries ranging from food to aviation. In the current study, pristine sunflower oil was used to form uniform adherent films on iron (Fe) via a simple single-step thermal treatment (without involving any initiator/mediator/catalyst). Oxidation of oil on heating results in a highly conjugated (oxidized) crystalline lamellar network with interlayer separation of 0.445 nm on Fe. The electrochemical corrosion tests proved that the coating exhibits superior anticorrosion performance with high coating resistance (>10(9) ohm cm2) and low capacitance values (<10(-10) F cm(-2)) as compared to bare Fe, graphene, and conducting polymer based coatings in 1 M hydrochloric acid solutions. The electrochemical analyses reveal that the oil coatings developed in this study provided a two-fold protection of passivation from the oxide layer and barrier from polymeric films. It is clearly observed that there is no change in structure, morphology, or electrochemical properties even after a prolonged exposure time of 80 days. This work indicates the prospect of developing highly inert, environmentally green, nontoxic, and micrometer level passivating barrier coatings from more sustainable and renewable sources, which can be of interest for numerous applications.

Graphene as an anti-corrosion coating layer

Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in an aromatic hexagonal lattice, has recently drawn attention as a potential coating material due to its impermeability, thermodynamic stability, transparency and flexibility. Here, the effectiveness of a model system, a graphene covered Pt(100) surface, for studying the anti-corrosion properties of graphene, has been evaluated. Chemical vapour deposition techniques were used to cover the single crystal surface with a complete layer of high-quality graphene and the surface was characterised after exposure to corrosive environments with scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) and Raman spectroscopy. Graphene covered Pt samples were exposed to: (i) ambient atmosphere for 6 months at room temperature and 60 °C for 75 min, (ii) Milli-Q water for 14 hours at room temperature and 60 °C for 75 min, and (iii) saltwater (0.513 M NaCl) for 75 min at room temperature and 60 °C. STM provides atomic resolution images, which show that the graphene layer and the underlying surface reconstruction on the Pt(100) surface remain intact over the majority of the surface under all conditions, except exposure to saltwater when the sample is kept at 60 °C. Raman spectroscopy shows a broadening of all graphene related peaks due to hybridisation between the surface Pt d-orbitals and the graphene π-bands. This hybridisation also survives exposure to all environments except saltwater on the hot surface, with the latter leading to peaks more representative of a quasi free-standing graphene layer. A mechanism explaining the corrosive effect of hot saltwater is suggested. Based on these experiments, graphene is proposed to offer protection against corrosion in all tested environments, except saltwater on a hot surface, and Raman spectroscopy is proposed as a useful method for indirectly assessing the chemical state of the Pt surface.

Reduced Water Vapor Transmission Rate of Graphene Gas Barrier Films for Flexible Organic Field-Effect Transistors

Preventing reactive gas species such as oxygen or water is important to ensure the stability and durability of organic electronics. Although inorganic materials have been predominantly employed as the protective layers, their poor mechanical property has hindered the practical application to flexible electronics. The densely packed hexagonal lattice of carbon atoms in graphene does not allow the transmission of small gas molecules. In addition, its outstanding mechanical flexibility and optical transmittance are expected to be useful to overcome the current mechanical limit of the inorganic materials. In this paper, we reported the measurement of the water vapor transmission rate (WVTR) through the 6-layer 10 × 10 cm(2) large-area graphene films synthesized by chemical vapor deposition (CVD). The WVTR was measured to be as low as 10(-4) g/m(2)·day initially, and stabilized at ∼0.48 g/m(2)·day, which corresponds to 7 times reduction in WVTR compared to bare polymer substrates. We also showed that the graphene-passivated organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) exhibited excellent environmental stability as well as a prolonged lifetime even after 500 bending cycles with strain of 2.3%. We expect that our results would be a good reference showing the graphene's potential as gas barriers for organic electronics.

Processes for non-destructive transfer of graphene: widening the bottleneck for industrial scale production

The exceptional charge-transport, mechanical, and barrier properties of graphene are well known. High-quality films of single-layer graphene produced over large areas, however, are extremely expensive. The high cost of graphene precludes its use in industries-such as transparent electrodes and flexible packaging-that might take full advantage of its properties. This minireview presents several strategies for the transfer of graphene from the substrates used for growth to substrates used for the final application. Each strategy shares the characteristic of being non-destructive: that is, the growth substrate remains reusable for further synthesis of new graphene. These processes have the potential to lower significantly the costs of manufacturing graphene, to increase production yields, and to minimize environmental impact. This article is divided into sections on (i) the synthesis of high-quality single-layer graphene and (ii) its non-destructive transfer to a host substrate. Section (ii) is further divided according to the substrate from which graphene is transferred: single-crystalline wafers or flexible copper foils. We also comment, wherever possible, on defects produced as a result of the transfer, and potential strategies to mitigate these defects. We conclude that several methods for the green synthesis and transfer of graphene have several of the right characteristics to be useful in industrial scale production.

Graphene-based membranes

Graphene is a well-known two-dimensional material that exhibits preeminent electrical, mechanical and thermal properties owing to its unique one-atom-thick structure. Graphene and its derivatives (e.g., graphene oxide) have become emerging nano-building blocks for separation membranes featuring distinct laminar structures and tunable physicochemical properties. Extraordinary molecular separation properties for purifying water and gases have been demonstrated by graphene-based membranes, which have attracted a huge surge of interest during the past few years. This tutorial review aims to present the latest groundbreaking advances in both the theoretical and experimental chemical science and engineering of graphene-based membranes, including their design, fabrication and application. Special attention will be given to the progresses in processing graphene and its derivatives into separation membranes with three distinct forms: a porous graphene layer, assembled graphene laminates and graphene-based composites. Moreover, critical views on separation mechanisms within graphene-based membranes will be provided based on discussing the effect of inter-layer nanochannels, defects/pores and functional groups on molecular transport. Furthermore, the separation performance of graphene-based membranes applied in pressure filtration, pervaporation and gas separation will be summarized. This article is expected to provide a compact source of relevant and timely information and will be of great interest to all chemists, physicists, materials scientists, engineers and students entering or already working in the field of graphene-based membranes and functional films.

Efficient anti-corrosive coating of cold-rolled steel in a seawater environment using an oil-based graphene oxide ink

We report the production of an efficient anti-corrosive coating of cold-rolled (CR) steel in a seawater environment (∼3.5 wt% NaCl aqueous solution) using an oil-based graphene oxide ink. The graphene oxide was produced by heating Aeschynomene aspera plant as a carbon source at 1600 °C in an argon atmosphere. The ink was prepared by cup-milling the mixture of graphene oxide and sunflower oil for 10 min. The coating of ink on the CR steel was made using the dip-coating method, followed by curing at 350 °C for 10 min in air atmosphere. The results of the potentiodynamic polarization show that the corrosion rate of bare CR steel decreases nearly 10,000-fold by the ink coating. Furthermore, the salt spray test results show that the red rusting in the ink-coated CR steel is initiated after 100 h, in contrast to 24 h and 6 h in the case of oil-coated and bare CR steel, respectively. The significant decrease in the corrosion rate by the ink-coating is discussed based on the impermeability of graphene oxide to the corrosive ions.

Kinetics of hydrazine reduction of thin films of graphene oxide and the determination of activation energy by the measurement of electrical conductivity

By measurement of the electrical conductivities of GO coated PET films during the reduction reaction, we determined activation energy.

Electrochemical behavior of Sn–graphene composite coating

The electrochemical properties of pure Sn and Sn–graphene composite coating have been determined and compared.

Non-corroding α-alumina@TiO2 core–shell nanoplates appearing metallic gold in colour

Non-corroding α-alumina@TiO₂ core–shell nanoplates exhibiting a lustrous metallic gold colour were synthesized using sol–gel solution chemistry with controlled reaction conditions for the formation of anatase and rutile TiO₂ nanocrystals.