Wet-spinning assembly of continuous, neat, and macroscopic graphene fibers

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 613
• Main Authors: Cong, Huai-Ping, Ren, Xiao-Chen, Wang, Ping, Yu, Shu-Hong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 30.08.2012
• Subjects: Chemical reduction; Composite materials; Electrical conductivity; Fibers; Graphite; Integration; Mechanical properties
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep00613

Graphene is now the most attractive carbon-based material. Integration of 2D graphene sheets into macroscopic architectures such as fibers illuminates the direction to translate the excellent properties of individual graphene into advanced hierarchical ensembles for promising applications in new graphene-based nanodevices. However, the lack of effective, low-cost and convenient assembly strategy has blocked its further development. Herein, we demonstrate that neat and macroscopic graphene fibers with high mechanical strength and electrical conductivity can be fluidly spun from the common graphene oxide (GO) suspensions in large scale followed with chemical reduction. The curliness-fold formation mechanism of GO fiber has been proposed. This wet-spinning technique presented here facilitates the multifunctionalization of macroscopic graphene-based fibers with various organic or inorganic components by an easy-handle in situ or post-synthesis approach, which builds the solid foundation to access a new family of advanced composite materials for the next practical applications.