Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets are semiconductors with a bandgap tunable via the C:O ratio. Unfortunately, the oxidation reaction used to produce GO yields sheets with highly variable degrees of oxidation. Using liquid-cell atomic force microscopy, we demonstrate that ionic surfactants selectively adsorb onto sheets according to their oxidation state. We visualize the surfactant aggregates with <5 nm resolution providing detailed information about the GO surface chemistry. We are currently investigating this phenomenon for post-production separation of precisely defined bandgap materials.

Charge-driven selective adsorption of ionic surfactants on graphene oxides visualized by liquid cell AFM

244th National Meeting (2012)

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