Highly Ordered and Multiple-Responsive Graphene Oxide/Azoimidazolium Surfactant Intercalation Hybrids: A Versatile Control Platform

To produce graphene materials with better controllability, a new graphene oxide (GO) intercalation hybrid is fabricated with the incorporation and functionalization with the azoimidazolium (AzoIm(+)) surfactant. The hybrid exhibits a highly uniform lamellar structure in which a few layers of GO are stacked with AzoIm(+) alternatively. Simultaneous control of the mesoscopic structures, aggregation properties, and electrochemical behavior of the hybrid is, achieved by inheriting the photo, thermal, and mechanical responsiveness of azoimidazolium. Ultraviolet (UV) treatment produces a well-dispersed GO/AzoIm(+) suspension aggregate and a precipitate, whereas the specific capacitance of the final hybrid decreases. The lamellar stacking becomes anisotropic by uniaxial stretching on a soft polymer. With a liquid crystal unit inserted between the layers, the d spacing of the lamella passes through transformation, disordering, and finally recovery stages, associated with the increasing:and decreasing temperature. The explosive release of heat generated by the thermal reduction of GO is reduced in the GO/AzoIm(+) intercalation hybrid. The release of heat is tunable by varying the relative quantity and UV treatment of AzoIm(+) The physical properties of the hybrid allow the controlled preparation of ultrasmall Au nanodots between the GO layers. This represents a major step toward multiple-responsive integrated graphene applications.