The macroscopic assemblies of graphene, in terms of 1D fibers, 2D films/fabrics, 3D aerogels etc., have attracted lots of interest from both academics and industry in the past 20 years. However, the diversity of these assembled structures is limited by the lack of creativity while keeping using graphene sheets as building blocks. Meanwhile, homogeneous architectures acquired from ordinary assembling strategies appear to be insufficient for several advanced applications. In our previous work, we have discovered the reversible fusion and fission of graphene oxide fibers relating to their unique behavior during absorbing and desorbing water. Recently, we developed a novel wet-fusing assembly strategy based on the self-fusion feature of graphene oxide fibers. Using as-prepared 1D fibers as the basic structural elements, we achieved arbitrary graphene assemblies ranging from 2D papers to 3D aerogels through the wet-fusion method. The wet-fusing assembly is spontaneous and easily controllable which also provides strong interconnection between the unit fibers. Unlike the conventional homogeneous graphene assemblies, these fiber-assembled materials have hierarchical structures with programmable fibrous textures, thus are more flexible in characteristic design. Our methodology brings forward a way to expand the family of graphene assemblies and is also an efficient strategy to pursue functional graphene structures.

Wet-fusing assembly of graphene oxide fibers into 2D and 3D structures

[1] Jiaqing Wang, Zheng Li, Xin Ming, Peng Li, Dan Chang, Li Peng, Chao Gao. Carbon 196 (2022) 940–949.

[2] Dan Chang, Jingran Liu, Bo Fang, Zhen Xu, Zheng Li, Yilun Liu, Laurence Brassart, Fan Guo, Weiwei Gao, Chao Gao, Science 372 (2021) 614–617.

[3] Zheng Li, Zhen Xu, Yingjun Liu, Ran Wang, Chao Gao, Nature Communications 7 (2016) 13684.

The macroscopic assemblies of graphene, in terms of 1D fibers, 2D films/fabrics, 3D aerogels etc., have attracted lots of interest from both academics and industry in the past 20 years. However, the diversity of these assembled structures is limited by the lack of creativity while keeping using graphene sheets as building blocks. Meanwhile, homogeneous architectures acquired from ordinary assembling strategies appear to be insufficient for several advanced applications. In our previous work, we have discovered the reversible fusion and fission of graphene oxide fibers relating to their unique behavior during absorbing and desorbing water. Recently, we developed a novel wet-fusing assembly strategy based on the self-fusion feature of graphene oxide fibers. Using as-prepared 1D fibers as the basic structural elements, we achieved arbitrary graphene assemblies ranging from 2D papers to 3D aerogels through the wet-fusion method. The wet-fusing assembly is spontaneous and easily controllable which also provides strong interconnection between the unit fibers. Unlike the conventional homogeneous graphene assemblies, these fiber-assembled materials have hierarchical structures with programmable fibrous textures, thus are more flexible in characteristic design. Our methodology brings forward a way to expand the family of graphene assemblies and is also an efficient strategy to pursue functional graphene structures.

Wet-fusing assembly of graphene oxide fibers into 2D and 3D structures

[1] Jiaqing Wang, Zheng Li, Xin Ming, Peng Li, Dan Chang, Li Peng, Chao Gao. Carbon 196 (2022) 940–949.

[2] Dan Chang, Jingran Liu, Bo Fang, Zhen Xu, Zheng Li, Yilun Liu, Laurence Brassart, Fan Guo, Weiwei Gao, Chao Gao, Science 372 (2021) 614–617.

[3] Zheng Li, Zhen Xu, Yingjun Liu, Ran Wang, Chao Gao, Nature Communications 7 (2016) 13684.