@article{7752728a9381493992dfb8f6d7d7fada,
title = "Direct exfoliation of graphene in ionic liquids with aromatic groups",
abstract = "Novel ionic liquids (ILs) were designed and synthesized to contain aromatic groups on the imidazolium cation that non-covalently interact with graphene surfaces. This route enables the dispersion of pristine graphene without covalent functionalization or an additive stabilizer; such dispersions are stable against aggregation and display high concentration values. We find that ILs without these aromatic groups are less effective in graphene dispersion, and the dispersed graphene concentration increases with increasing interaction between the cation and graphene surface. Density functional theory (DFT-D3) calculations support the experimental observations and provide a foundation for predictive modeling of IL design for optimal graphene dispersions.",
keywords = "Conductivity, Graphene, Ionic liquid, π-π stacking",
author = "Rozana Bari and George Tamas and Fahmida Irin and Aquino, {Adelia J.A.} and Green, {Micah J.} and Quitevis, {Edward L.}",
note = "Funding Information: For the Raman measurements, we thank Nick Wietfeldt from Xolve, Inc, as well as Colin Young and Professor Matteo Pasquali of Rice University. TEM and SEM were performed at the TTU Imaging Center with help from Dr. Mark J. Grimson, Dr. Callum Hetherington, Mary Catherine Hastert, and Dr. Lauren Gollahon. For the XRD experiment we thank Dr. Daniel Unruh, the crystallographer in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, TTU. For the surface area measurements and the XPS characterization we thank Dr. Juliusz Warzywoda and Dr. Al Sacco of TTU. We also wish to thank Dr. Sriya Das and Dorsa Parviz for their advice. We thank the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at TTU for use of the Robinson cluster whose purchase was funded by the National Science Foundation under CRIF-MU instrumentation grant CHE-0840493 . Funding was provided to M. J. Green by the National Science Foundation under CAREER award CMMI-1253085 and by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research Young Investigator Program (AFOSR FA9550-11-1-0027) and to E. L. Quitevis by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. CHE-1153077 . A. J. A. Aquino was supported by the Robert A. Welch Foundation under grant No. D-0005 . We thank the National Science Foundation for funding the purchase of the NMR instrumentation ( CHE-1048553 ) used in this project. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2014 Elsevier B.V.",
year = "2014",
month = dec,
day = "5",
doi = "10.1016/j.colsurfa.2014.09.024",
language = "English",
volume = "463",
pages = "63--69",
journal = "Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects",
issn = "0927-7757",
}