Ultrasonication-Assisted Controllable Self-Assembly of Graphene Oxide

A facile, and cost-efficient ultrasonication-assisted exfoliation strategy is proposed to fabricate GO sheets with various sizes. Just by controlling the original GO sizes as basic building blocks in deionized water, various aligned architectures, such as films, microfibers, submicron rods, and nanorods, are self-assembled at the water/air interface. The formation mechanisms are analyzed on the basis of the morphology evolutions of various aligned architectures. It is very interesting to note that various functional structures are generally aligned in a certain direction, which is probably attributed to the intrinsic lamellar orientation and the corresponding polarity of the GO sheets. This work provides a beneficial reference for controlling the assembling behaviors of GO in a broad range of applications.