A Supramolecular Strategy to Leverage the Liquid-Phase Exfoliation of Graphene in the Presence of Surfactants: Unraveling the Role of the Length of Fatty Acids

A supramolecular approach for producing homogeneous dispersions of graphene nanosheets in various solvents is described by A. Ciesielski, P. Samori, and co-workers on page 1691. Comparative studies of the liquid-phase exfoliation of graphene in the presence of linear alkanes of different lengths terminated by a carboxylic-acid head group reveal that they molecules act as graphene dispersion-stabilizing agents during exfoliation. The efficiency of exfoliation in terms of the concentration of exfoliated graphene is found to be proportional to the length of the fatty acid.