Graphene oxide and laponite composite films with high oxygen-barrier properties.

The design and fabrication of oxygen barrier films is important for both fundamental and industrial applications. We prepared three different thin films composed of graphene oxide (GO) and laponite (LN), a typical low cost inorganic clay, with the GO/LN volume ratios of 1.9/0.1, 1.7/0.3 and 1.5/0.5 together with a double layer film of the GO and LN. We found that the films with GO/LN = 1.9/0.1 and the double layers exhibited high oxygen barrier and oxygen transmission rate values that reached 0.55 and 0.37 cm(3) per m(2) per atm per day, respectively, which were much lower than those of the films prepared from the pure GO, only LN and GO/LN = 1.7/0.3 and 1.5/0.5. This study is important for the design and fabrication of a film from GO-based all inorganic nanomaterials for applications in gas-barrier membranes.