Chemical reactivity of C-F bonds attached to graphene with diamines depending on their nature and location

The attachment of fluorine to graphene is a facile means to activate the carbon bonds for subsequent covalent bonding to other molecules for the preparation of desired graphene derivatives. Therefore, an insight into the chemical reactivity of fluorinated graphene (FG) is very essential to enable precise control of the composition and structure of the final products. In this study, FG has been treated with various mass amounts of poly(oxypropylene)diamine (PEA) ranging from starvation to saturation to explore the dependence of a substitution reaction of diamines on the nature and location (attached onto the basal planes or along defects or edges) of C-F bonds. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy directly tracked the atomic percentage of fluorine present and the carbon 1s bonding state, showing that the grafting ratio of diamines gradually increases with increased diamine mass ratio. The varying of the types and orientation of C-F bonds characterized by polarized attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicates that "covalent" C-F bonds are more sensitive to the substitution reaction of diamines than ''semi-ionic'' C-F bonds, and the C-F bonds attached onto basal planes more preferably participate in the functionalization reaction of diamines than that of C-F bonded on non-coplanar regions (edges or defects). The one-dimensional expansion along the graphene c-axis shown by wide angle X-ray diffraction provides further evidence on the preferred functionalization reaction of C-F attached on the basal planes, resulting in a change of the average intersheet distance by various magnitudes.

Characterization of the thermal/thermal oxidative stability of fluorinated graphene with various structures

The thermal/thermal oxidative stability of various fluorinated graphene depends on the differences in their corresponding C–F bonds, CF_n defects and spin centers on the nanosheets.

Defluorination and covalent grafting of fluorinated graphene with TEMPO in a radical mechanism

The work innovatively reveals the radical mechanism of derivative reactions of fluorinated graphene including its defluorination and covalent grafting, meanwhile first confirming the destination of deciduous fluorine atoms after defluorination.

Stacked functionalized silicene: a powerful system to adjust the electronic structure of silicene

Herein, we employed first principle density functional periodic calculations to characterize the silicon counterpart of graphene:silicene. We found that silicene is far more reactive than graphene, very stable and strong Si-X bonds can be formed, where X = H, CH3, OH and F. The Si-F bond is the strongest one, with a binding energy of 114.9 kcal mol(-1). When radicals are agglomerated, the binding energy per functional grows up to 17 kcal mol(-1). The functionalization with OH radicals produces the largest alterations of the structure of silicene, due to the presence of intralayer hydrogen bonds. The covalent addition of H, CH3, OH and F to silicene enables the adjustment of its electronic structure. In effect, functionalized silicene can be a semiconductor or even exhibit metallic properties when the type and concentration of radicals are varied. The most interesting results were obtained when two layers of functionalized silicene were stacked, given that the band gaps experienced a significant reduction with respect to those computed for symmetrically and asymmetrically (Janus) functionalized monolayer silicenes. In the case of fluorine, the largest changes in the electronic structure of bilayer silicene were appreciated when at least one side of silicene was completely fluorinated. In general, the fluorinated side induces metallic properties in a large number of functionalized silicenes. In some cases which presented band gaps as large as 3.2 eV when isolated, the deposition over fluorinated silicene was able to close that gap and induce a metallic character. In addition to this, in four cases small gaps in the range of 0.1-0.6 eV were obtained for bilayer silicenes. Therefore, functionalization of silicene is a powerful method to produce stable two-dimensional silicon based nanomaterials with tunable optical band gaps.

Influence of monomer content on the viscoelasticity, water sorption and solubility of experimental fluorinated soft lining materials

The influence of monomer content on the viscoelasticity, water sorption and solubility of experimental fluorinated soft lining materials was investigated. Changes in the viscoelastic properties of the materials were also examined after thermal cycling. Four fluorinated soft lining materials containing different amounts of methoxy diethylene glycol methacrylate (MDGMA) and tridecafluorooctyl methacrylate (13FMA) were prepared. The viscoelastic displacement for specimens containing 13FMA was found to be less than that without 13FMA (p<0.05), and the values tended to decrease with increasing 13FMA content. Reduction of the MDGMA content and addition of 13FMA caused a decrease of water sorption and solubility (p<0.05). Thermal cycling was found to affect the viscoelastic deformation of the specimens without 13FMA and those specimens with relatively large amounts of 13FMA.

Substrate effects on the monovacancies of silicene: studied from first principle methods

The geometrical structures and electronic properties of defective silicene with monovacancies (MVs), placed on two different substrates, a h-BN sheet and an Ag(111) surface, have been investigated using the first-principles method.

Acid induced fluorinated graphene oxide

Brown graphene oxide was interestingly tuned into nearly white fluorinated graphene oxide with rich oxygen groups under hydrothermal treatment with nitric and hydrofluoric acid.