Design and Synthesis of Functional Graphene Composites and their Applications

Abstract

Recently, graphene has attracted tremendous interests from the scientific and industrial communities owing to its exceptional properties. Chemical exfoliation of graphite to produce graphene derivatives such as graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) offers a wide range of possibilities to develop functional graphene composites for various applications. In this thesis, the design and synthesis of various graphene-based composites and their potential applications have been discussed with regards to four different hybrid systems: (i) fluorescent dye (ii) poly-(ionic liquids) (iii) dye-metal complex and (iv) metal nanoparticles. Firstly, as detailed in Chapter 3, a charge-transfer complex between GO and a pyrene dye has been synthesized via a simple ion-exchange process. Its highly specific interactions with DNA compared to other bio-molecules allow selective and rapid detection of DNA in biological mixtures. In addition, this GO?dye complex exhibits unique broadband optical limiting properties.