Insights into graphene oxide reactivity through different functionalization strategies

Graphene is a bi-dimensional nanomaterial composed of sp2 hybridized carbon atoms. Since its discovery in 2004, it has catalyzed the interest of the scientific community due to its notable properties and peculiar structure. Its potential applications are countless, nonetheless, it possesses three main drawbacks: it is poorly dispersible in polar solvents, its synthetic pathways are not currently suitable for scalable quantities of products and its functionalization reactions are limited1. In the group of graphene-like materials graphene oxide (GO) can be considered an optimal starting point for producing hybrid functional materials. GO is a versatile nanomaterial that overcomes the limitations of pristine graphene while it both retains and can retrieve several of its properties2. It is composed of a graphitic sheet decorated with a wide variety of oxygen functional groups (OFGs) e.g. epoxides, hydroxyls, carbonyls, and carboxyls3. Such moieties expand the chemistry of GO compared to pristine graphene. Indeed, the properties of GO can be tuned by exploiting these OFGs through a series of functionalization reactions2. This study aims to obtain insights into GO reactivity through a series of functionalization strategies. The reaction pathways investigated focused on producing aminated GO (GO-NH2) and carboxylated GO (GO COOH) by exploiting epoxide ring opening reactions and O-acylation pathways2,3. Through the knowledge obtained the focal point is to produce graphene-based hybrid materials with target properties for applications in specific fields2. The reactions proposed are fully characterized by employing XPS, Raman spectroscopy, and UV-Vis spectroscopy. References: [1] C. Anichini, P. Samorì, Small 2021, 17, 2100514. [2] S. Guo, et al., Nat. Rev. Phys. 2022, 4, 247 – 262. [3] F. Amato, et al., Nanoscale Adv. 2023, 5, 893 – 906.