Rapid and effective functionalization of graphene oxide by ionic liquid.

Functionalized graphene oxide (DDIB-GO) sheets, which can be homogeneously distributed into ortho-dichlorobenene, were obtained via rapid and effective covalent functionalization with imidazolium ionic liquids (1,3-didodecylimidazolium bromine) through ion exchange. The resulting DDIB-GO sheets were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV Vis NIR spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Atomic force microscopy (AFM). Furthermore, FTIR, XPS and TGA show that the 1,3-didodecylimidazolium have been covalently attached to the GO sheets. UV Vis NIR, TEM, and AFM demonstrate that after functionalization, the size and shape of DDIB-GO sheets had little change compared with GO sheets and it was mostly dispersed in single layer. And good electronic conductivity of the film prepared from DDIB-GO in ODCB was obtained after high temperature annealing.