Roles of hydrocarbon chain-length in preparing graphene oxide from mildly-oxidized graphite with intercalating anionic aliphatic surfactants

The effects of the hydrocarbon chain-length of aliphatic surfactants on the preparation of graphene oxide from mildly-oxidized graphite oxide through intercalation and the intercalating mechanism have been studied in this work. This study was performed on a mildly-oxidized graphite oxide and its exfoliated products through the measurements of X-ray diffraction, ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer, atomic force microscopy, cyclic voltammetry, zeta potential, Fourier transformed infrared spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectrometer. The experimental results have shown that the in-plane graphitic order remained unaltered after intercalating surfactants into the graphite oxide. The yield and quality of prepared graphene oxide were proportional to the hydrocarbon chain-length of the aliphatic surfactants. Also, it was found that the aliphatic surfactants were intercalated into the lamellas of graphite oxide by means of hydrogen bonding and hydrophobic attractive force instead of electrostatic attraction or chemical bonding.