Supramolecular graphene oxide-alkylamine hybrid materials: variation of dispersibility and improvement of thermal stability

Supramolecular hybrid materials of graphene oxide (GO) with octadecylamine or dodecylamine have been fabricated by a simple self-assembly technique at room temperature. Many characterization methods have been used to research the micelle-like nanostructures. Compared to unmodified GO, the alkyl-functionalized graphene hybrids could be easily dispersed in various nonpolar organic solvents, such as petroleum ether, n-heptane, isooctane, dimethylbenzene etc., rather than in polar solvents. It was found that alkylamine plays a key role during such preparation. Octadecanol (ODO) produced hardly any modification of GO under the conditions, because the so-called product (GO-ODO) exhibits a high degree of similarity to GO in solvent dispersion behaviour and the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The addition of alkylamine significantly improves the thermal stability of the nanomaterials. The improved thermal degradation temperatures can be obtained for polyethylene glycol and polymethyl methacrylate after filling it with as little as 1 wt% of the hybrid, suggesting their great potential as novel nanofillers in industry.