Assembly of graphene nanocomposites into honeycomb-structured macroporous films with enhanced hydrophobicity

Nature-inspired porous films have attracted great interest from researchers because of their fascinating structures and unique properties. In this paper, honeycomb-structured macroporous films of graphene nanocomposites were prepared by the breath figure method at both an air/solid interface and an air/water interface. Electrostatic complexes of graphene oxide (GO) and dimethyldioctadecylammonium bromide (DODA) have shown interfacial activities to stabilize the templating water droplets by adsorbing at water/solution interfaces. They can also form honeycomb structures of nanocomposites with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) and induce the formation of highly ordered honeycomb films of polystyrene (PS), which have shown enhanced hydrophobicity. The process to fabricate such honeycomb structures is fast, easy, and low-cost, providing a universal approach for the preparation of multifunctional materials, which have potential application in the fields of catalysis, bioscience and sensors.