Easy Preparation of Readily Self-Assembled High-Performance Graphene Oxide Fibers

Graphene oxide (GO) was recently reported to assemble into one-dimensional fiber precursors that can be used to produce next-generation multifunctional graphene-based materials. This study describes the facile fabrication of GO fibers with excellent mechanical properties, utilizing a diamine cross-linker that forms ion bridges between the GO layers. Organic co-coagulants and postdrawing processes, which are usually employed in typical GO spinning processes, were not used here. The GO layers readily aligned along the spinning axis, and the GO formed closely packed structures in the fibers. The fibers displayed a Young's modulus of 26.6 GPa and a maximal tensile strength of 384.3 MPa. The interlayer microstructure of the GO sheets could be tuned by modifying the structures of the cross-linking diamine groups, yielding a range of mechanical properties. These observations suggested that our newly developed GO fiber synthesis method could allow applications of graphene-based fibrous materials through GO surface chemistry modification approaches.