Green fabrication of cellulose/graphene composite in ionic liquid and its electrochemical and photothermal properties

In this work, cellulose/graphene composite (CG) was obtained by directly exfoliating graphite in ionic liquid in presence of microcrystalline cellulose. In an ideal solvent medium provided by ionic liquid, the ionic liquid-cellulose complexes acted as exfoliating agent. The concentration of the obtained graphene was 1.12 mg mL(-1). The thick of graphene sheets was 1.25 nm, and the lateral size was similar to 1 mu m. The graphene sheets were effectively stabilized by hydrogen bonds between cellulose and graphene. Moreover, the galvanostatic charge-discharge cycling measurements of CG before and after carbonization were evaluated. Carbonization improved the initial coulombic efficiency and the cycling performance. Furthermore, the. photothermal conversion study showed that CG can availably convert the near-infrared irradiation into heat, and the measured temperature reached as high as 75 degrees C after 1 min of irradiation. Finally, CG was made into a near-infrared-responsive liquid marble as a trigger to detect the chromogenic chemical reactions. This study provided a green method to prepare graphene nanosheets with multifunctional applications. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.