Hydrophilicity of Graphene in Water through Transparency to Polar and Dispersive Interactions
Open Access
- 8 February 2018
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Wiley in Advanced Materials
- Vol. 30 (6)
- https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201703274
Abstract
Establishing contact angles on graphene-on-water has been a long-standing challenge as droplet deposition causes free-floating graphene to rupture. The current work presents ice and hydrogels as substrates mimicking water while offering a stable support for graphene. The lowest water contact angles on graphene ever measured, namely on graphene-on-ice and graphene-on-hydrogel, are recorded. The contact angle measurements of liquids with a range of polarities allow the transparency of graphene toward polar and dispersive interactions to be quantified demonstrating that graphene in water is hydrophilic. These findings are anticipated to shed light on the inconsistencies reported so far on the wetting properties of graphene, and most particularly on their implications toward rationalizing how molecules interact with graphene in water.Keywords
Funding Information
- European Research Council (335879)
This publication has 35 references indexed in Scilit:
- Rupture index: A quantitative measure of sub-micrometer cracks in grapheneCarbon, 2017
- Wetting transparency of graphene in waterThe Journal of Chemical Physics, 2014
- Effect of airborne contaminants on the wettability of supported graphene and graphiteNature Materials, 2013
- Wettability of GrapheneNano Letters, 2013
- What Is the Contact Angle of Water on Graphene?Langmuir, 2013
- Breakdown in the Wetting Transparency of GraphenePhysical Review Letters, 2012
- Wetting transparency of grapheneNature Materials, 2012
- First-Principle Study of Hydroxyl Functional Groups on Pristine, Defected Graphene, and Graphene EpoxideThe Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2010
- Surface-Energy Engineering of GrapheneLangmuir, 2010
- Wettability and Surface Free Energy of Graphene FilmsLangmuir, 2009