Highly confined stacks of graphene oxide sheets in water

Since the discovery of graphene oxide (GO), the most accessible of the precursors of graphene, this material has been widely studied for applications in science and technology. In this work, we describe a procedure to obtain GO dispersions in water at high concentrations, these highly dehydrated dispersions being in addition fully redispersible by dilution. With the availability of such concentrated samples, it was possible to investigate the structure of hydrated GO sheets in a previously unexplored range of concentrations, and to evidence a structural phase transition. Tentatively applying models designed for describing the small-angle scattering curve in the Smectic A (or [Formula: see text]) phase of lyotropic systems, it was possible to extract elastic parameters characterising the system on the dilute side of the transition, thereby evidencing the relevance of both electrostatic and steric (Helfrich) interactions in stabilising aqueous lamellar stacks of GO sheets.