A sedimentation study of graphene oxide in aqueous solution using gradient differential centrifugation

This work involved the study of sedimentation of graphene oxide (GO) in aqueous solution by gradient differential centrifugation. GO sheets of size varying from 400 nm to 1100 nm were separated with layer numbers ranging from 2–17. Semiquantitative analysis of FT-IR spectra was conducted based on statistical variance, in which relative oxidation and hydration degrees were numeralized. Combining XRD, optical microscopy and particle size measurements, the dominant effects of hydration and d-spacing on GO sediment in aqueous solution were observed. However, lateral particle shifting showed a relatively insignificant influence even though it has much larger effects on the GO weight compared with the GO thickness. Highly oxidized GO sheets were highly hydrated and had the tendency to face more severe resistance in aqueous sedimentation. Larger d-spacing allowed more water molecules to enter into interlayers and thus improved the degree of hydration, the lower density and the lower sedimentation velocity of GO sheets. However, fast sedimentation could be found in both large and small GO sheets due to the relatively non-dominant effect from lateral size shifting. The underlying mechanism was further probed by the mathematical modeling process. Our study reveals the potential limitations of current theory for explaining GO sedimentation and also demonstrates the effectiveness of gradient differential centrifugation for sorting GO sheets varying in hydration degree and thickness.