Due to its amphiphilic property, graphene oxide (GO) can achieve a variety of nanostructures with different morphologies (for example membranes, hydrogel, crumpled particles, hollow spheres, ...sack‐cargo particles, Pickering emulsions, and so on) by self‐assembly. The self‐assembly is mostly derived from the self‐concentration of GO sheets at various interfaces, including liquid‐air, liquid‐liquid and liquid‐solid interfaces. This paper gives a comprehensive review of these assembly phenomena of GO at the three types of interfaces, the derived interfacial self‐assembly techniques, and the as‐obtained assembled materials and their properties. The interfacial self‐assembly of GO, enabled by its fantastic features including the amphiphilicity, the negatively charged nature, abundant oxygen‐containing groups and two‐dimensional flexibility, is highlighted as an easy and well‐controlled strategy for the design and preparation of functionalized carbon materials, and the use of self‐assembly for uniform hybridization is addressed for preparing hybrid carbon materials with various functions. A number of new exciting and potential applications are also presented for the assembled GO‐based materials. This contribution concludes with some personal perspectives on future challenges before interfacial self‐assembly may become a major strategy for the application‐targeted design and preparation of functionalized carbon materials.
With its amphiphilic nature, graphene oxide as a 2D soft molecule is characterized by many self‐concentration phenomena at interfaces, and these interesting interfacial properties, together with developed self‐assembly techniques, indicate a simple and effective strategy for producing a variety of novel carbon nanostructures and final bulk materials with designed functions.
Low‐threshold two‐photon‐pumped (TPP) perovskite microcavity lasers are achieved in crystal perovskite 1D or 2D microstructures fabricated through a liquid‐phase self‐assembly method assisted by two ...distinct surfactant soft templates. The lasing actions from the perovskite materials exhibit a shape‐dependent microcavity effect, which is subsequently utilized for the modulation of the lasing modes and for the achievement of two‐photon‐pumped single‐mode perovskite microlasers.
EuIII, the last piece in the puzzle: Europium‐induced self‐assembly of ligands having a C3‐symmetrical benzene‐1,3,5‐tricarboxamide core results in the formation of luminescent gels. Supramolecular ...polymers are formed through hydrogen bonding between the ligands. The polymers are then brought together into the gel assembly through the coordination of terpyridine ends by EuIII ions (blue dashed arrow: distance between two ligands in the strand direction).
There is considerable current interest in polymerization-induced self-assembly (PISA) via reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization as a versatile and efficient route to ...various types of block copolymer nano-objects. Many successful PISA syntheses have been conducted in water using either RAFT aqueous dispersion polymerization or RAFT aqueous emulsion polymerization. In contrast, this review article is focused on the growing number of RAFT PISA formulations developed for non-aqueous media. A wide range of monomers have been utilized for both the stabilizer and core-forming blocks to produce diblock copolymer nanoparticles in either polar or non-polar media (including supercritical CO2 and ionic liquids) via RAFT dispersion polymerization. Such nanoparticles possess spherical, worm-like or vesicular morphologies, often with controllable size and functionality. Detailed characterization of such sterically stabilized diblock copolymer dispersions provides important insights into the various morphological transformations that can occur both during the PISA synthesis and also on subsequent exposure to a suitable external stimulus (e.g. temperature).
Macroscopic and 3D superaligned CNT (SACNT) sponges are fabricated through a simple, low‐cost, controllable, and scalable self‐assembly method without using organic binder. Sponges with specific ...shapes and densities can be achieved. SACNT sponges are ultralight (1–50 mg cm−3), highly porous (97.5%–99.9%) with honeycomb‐like hierarchical structure, and highly conductive. Using SACNT sponges as templates, various materials with honeycomb‐like structure can be obtained for wide applications.
We present a novel strategy for the fabrication of ordered and flexible polymer‐based graphene foams by self‐assembly of graphene sheets on a 3D polymer skeleton. The obtained graphene foams show ...excellent mechanical, electrical, and hydrophobic properties, thus holding great potential as elastic conductors and oil‐water separators.
Fly‐eye bio‐inspired inorganic nanostructures are synthesized via a two‐step self‐assembly approach, which have low contact angle hysteresis and excellent anti‐fogging properties, and are promising ...candidates for anti‐freezing/fogging materials to be applied in extreme and hazardous environments.
Low extracellular electron transfer performance is often a bottleneck in developing high‐performance bioelectrochemical systems. Herein, we show that the self‐assembly of graphene oxide and ...Shewanella oneidensis MR‐1 formed an electroactive, reduced‐graphene‐oxide‐hybridized, three‐dimensional macroporous biofilm, which enabled highly efficient bidirectional electron transfers between Shewanella and electrodes owing to high biomass incorporation and enhanced direct contact‐based extracellular electron transfer. This 3D electroactive biofilm delivered a 25‐fold increase in the outward current (oxidation current, electron flux from bacteria to electrodes) and 74‐fold increase in the inward current (reduction current, electron flux from electrodes to bacteria) over that of the naturally occurring biofilms.
Shocking bacteria! The title biofilm was constructed by the one‐step in situ bioreduction and self‐assembly of graphene oxide (GO) with Shewanella oneidensis. The resulting 3D macroporous rGO/bacteria hybrid biofilm gave a 25‐fold increase in maximum oxidation current in microbial fuel cells, and a 74‐fold increase in reduction current in microbial electrosynthesis over that of the naturally occurring biofilms.
The morphological transformation from microspheres to helical supramolecular nanofibers with controllable handedness is achieved by the introduction of molecular chirality based on amino acid ...derivatives (TDAP), and the chirality of the supramolecular architectures that are achieved is nullified through the coassembly of the equivalent TDAP enantiomers. The molecular detection of achiral melamine based on the R‐TDAP‐COOH supramolecular system is achieved by the appearance of helicity and inversion.
Morphology transformation from achiral microspheres to chiral supramolecular structures as helical nanofibers with controllable handedness is achieved through the introduction of molecular chirality, and further to achiral 2D microsheets by hierarchical supramolecular assembly using the enantiomers. In addition, helicity appearance and inversion are observed for the TDAP‐MA supramolecular system, which provides a molecular detection method for melamine.
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