Liwei Liu

Functional Graphene Oxide as a Nanocarrier for Controlled Loading and Targeted Delivery of Mixed Anticancer Drugs

A simple synthetic route for the preparation of functional nanoscale graphene oxide (NGO), a novel nanocarrier for the loading and targeted delivery of anticancer drugs, is reported. The NGO is functionalized with sulfonic acid groups, which render it stable in physiological solution, followed by covalent binding of folic acid (FA) molecules to the NGO, thus allowing it to specifically target MCF-7 cells, human breast cancer cells with FA receptors. Furthermore, controlled loading of two anticancer drugs, doxorubicin (DOX) and camptothecin (CPT), onto the FA-conjugated NGO (FA-NGO) via pi-pi stacking and hydrophobic interactions is investigated. It is demonstrated that FA-NGO loaded with the two anticancer drugs shows specific targeting to MCF-7 cells, and remarkably high cytotoxicity compared to NGO loaded with either DOX or CPT only. Considering that the combined use of two or more drugs, a widely adopted clinical practice, often displays much better therapeutic efficacy than that of a single drug, the controlled loading and targeted delivery of mixed anticancer drugs using these graphene-based nanocarriers may find widespread application in biomedicine.

Three-dimensional graphene foam as a biocompatible and conductive scaffold for neural stem cells

Neural stem cell (NSC) based therapy provides a promising approach for neural regeneration. For the success of NSC clinical application, a scaffold is required to provide three-dimensional (3D) cell growth microenvironments and appropriate synergistic cell guidance cues. Here, we report the first utilization of graphene foam, a 3D porous structure, as a novel scaffold for NSCs in vitro. It was found that three-dimensional graphene foams (3D-GFs) can not only support NSC growth, but also keep cell at an active proliferation state with upregulation of Ki67 expression than that of two-dimensional graphene films. Meanwhile, phenotypic analysis indicated that 3D-GFs can enhance the NSC differentiation towards astrocytes and especially neurons. Furthermore, a good electrical coupling of 3D-GFs with differentiated NSCs for efficient electrical stimulation was observed. Our findings implicate 3D-GFs could offer a powerful platform for NSC research, neural tissue engineering and neural prostheses.

Aqueous‐Processable Noncovalent Chemically Converted Graphene–Quantum Dot Composites for Flexible and Transparent Optoelectronic Films

The preparation and optoelectronic response of flexible composites via non-covalent coupling of quantum dots to chemically converted graphene is presented. The photoincluced charge transfer is confirmed by photoconductivity measurements and the photosensitivity is improved with increasing loadings of quantum dots. This opens up a new effective route to form composites for future large-area flexible and transparent optoelectronic devices.

Reduced Graphene Oxide Electrically Contacted Graphene Sensor for Highly Sensitive Nitric Oxide Detection

We develop graphene-based devices fabricated by alternating current dielectrophoresis (ac-DEP) for highly sensitive nitric oxide (NO) gas detection. The novel device comprises the sensitive channels of palladium-decorated reduced graphene oxide (Pd-RGO) and the electrodes covered with chemical vapor deposition (CVD)-grown graphene. The highly sensitive, recoverable, and reliable detection of NO gas ranging from 2 to 420 ppb with response time of several hundred seconds has been achieved at room temperature. The facile and scalable route for high performance suggests a promising application of graphene devices toward the human exhaled NO and environmental pollutant detections.

High-Density Three-Dimension Graphene Macroscopic Objects for High-Capacity Removal of Heavy Metal Ions

The chemical vapor deposition (CVD) fabrication of high-density three-dimension graphene macroscopic objects (3D-GMOs) with a relatively low porosity has not yet been realized, although they are desirable for applications in which high mechanical and electrical properties are required. Here, we explore a method to rapidly prepare the high-density 3D-GMOs using nickel chloride hexahydrate (NiCl2·6H2O) as a catalyst precursor by CVD process at atmospheric pressure. Further, the free-standing 3D-GMOs are employed as electrolytic electrodes to remove various heavy metal ions. The robust 3D structure, high conductivity (~12u2005S/cm) and large specific surface area (~560u2005m2/g) enable ultra-high electrical adsorption capacities (Cd2+ ~ 434u2005mg/g, Pb2+ ~ 882u2005mg/g, Ni2+ ~ 1,683u2005mg/g, Cu2+ ~ 3,820u2005mg/g) from aqueous solutions and fast desorption. The current work has significance in the studies of both the fabrication of high-density 3D-GMOs and the removal of heavy metal ions.

Powder, paper and foam of few-layer graphene prepared in high yield by electrochemical intercalation exfoliation of expanded graphite.

A facile and high-yield approach to the preparation of few-layer graphene (FLG) by electrochemical intercalation exfoliation (EIE) of expanded graphite in sulfuric acid electrolyte is reported. Stage-1 H2SO4-graphite intercalation compound is used as a key intermediate in EIE to realize the efficient exfoliation. The yield of the FLG sheets (<7 layers) with large lateral sizes (tens of microns) is more than 75% relative to the total amount of starting expanded graphite. A low degree of oxygen functionalization existing in the prepared FLG flakes enables them to disperse effectively, which contributes to the film-forming characteristics of the FLG flakes. These electrochemically exfoliated FLG flakes are integrated into several kinds of macroscopic graphene structures. Flexible and freestanding graphene papers made of the FLG flakes retain excellent conductivity (≈24,500 S m(-1)). Three-dimensional (3D) graphene foams with light weight are fabricated from the FLG flakes by the use of Ni foams as self-sacrifice templates. Furthermore, 3D graphene/Ni foams without any binders, which are used as supercapacitor electrodes in aqueous electrolyte, provide the specific capacitance of 113.2 F g(-1) at a current density of 0.5 A g(-1), retaining 90% capacitance after 1000 cycles.

Interlayer catalytic exfoliation realizing scalable production of large-size pristine few-layer graphene.

Mass production of reduced graphene oxide and graphene nanoplatelets has recently been achieved. However, a great challenge still remains in realizing large-quantity and high-quality production of large-size thin few-layer graphene (FLG). Here, we create a novel route to solve the issue by employing one-time-only interlayer catalytic exfoliation (ICE) of salt-intercalated graphite. The typical FLG with a large lateral size of tens of microns and a thickness less than 2u2005nm have been obtained by a mild and durative ICE. The high-quality graphene layers preserve intact basal crystal planes owing to avoidance of the degradation reaction during both intercalation and ICE. Furthermore, we reveal that the high-quality FLG ensures a remarkable lithium-storage stability (>1,000u2005cycles) and a large reversible specific capacity (>600u2005mAh g−1). This simple and scalable technique acquiring high-quality FLG offers considerable potential for future realistic applications.

Self-adaptive electronic contact between graphene and semiconductors

Understanding the contact properties of graphene on semiconductors is crucial to improving the performance of graphene optoelectronic devices. Here, we show that when graphene is in contact with a semiconductor, the charge carrier transport into graphene leads to a self-adaptive shift of the Fermi level, which tends to lower the barrier heights of the graphene contact to both n- and p-type semiconductors. A theoretical model is presented to describe the charge carrier transport mechanism and to quantitatively estimate the barrier heights. These results can benefit recent topical approaches for graphene integration in various semiconductor devices.

Wide-Range Strain Sensors Based on Highly Transparent and Supremely Stretchable Graphene/Ag-Nanowires Hybrid Structures

The increasing demand of electronic devices for physical motion detection has encouraged the development of highly elastic strain sensors. Especially, to capture wide-range physical movements, supremely stretchable and wide-range strain sensors are required. Here, a novel transparent, bendable, stretchable, and wide-range strain sensor based on a sandwich-like stacked graphene and Ag-nanowires hybrid structures is reported. The hybrid structures on 200% pre-stretched polyacrylate (PAC) are patterned which possess good bendability up to 2 mm radius, impressive stretchability up to 200% and comparatively low sheet resistance ≈200 Ω sq-1 with transparency 85%. Pre-stretched PAC technique enables the sensor to work well at extremely high strains and to sense the multidirectional strains efficiently. The Ag-nanowires pattern on PAC is fabricated via the bubble-template method, by which a uniform distribution of Ag-nanowires is achieved with significant connectivity throughout the surface. This not only decreases the power consumption but also enhances the sensitivity of the strain sensor. The demonstrated strain sensor is capable to sense strains between 5% and 200%, and the response time for this sensation is <1 ms.

Photoresponse in large area multiwalled carbon nanotube/polymer nanocomposite films

We present a near IR photoresponse study of large area multi-walled carbon nanotube/poly(3-hexylthiophene)-block-polystyrene polymer (MWNT/P3HT-b-PS) nanocomposite films for different loading ratio of MWNT into the polymer matrix. We show that the photocurrent strongly depends on the position of the laser spot with maxiumum photocurrent occurring at the metal - film interface. In addition, compared to the pure MWNT film, the photoresponse is much larger in the MWNT/polymer composite films. The time constant for the photoresponse is slow and varies between 0.6 and 1.2 seconds. We explain the photoresponse by Schottky barrier modulation at the metal - film interface.