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Updated: Jan 31, 2026

Scalable Syntheses of Graphene Oxide and Reduced Graphene Oxide using Cascade Design Oxidation and Highly Basic Reduction Reactions
Published on: July 3, 2025
Design and Characterization of Hybrid Multilayer Structures: Layer-by-Layer Growth of Polymer and Graphene Oxide
Neelanjana Mukherjee1, Nancy S Muyanja2, Yunzhu Zhang3
1Michigan State University, Department of Chemistry, 578 S. Shaw Lane, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, United States.
Abstract:
We report the layer-by-layer growth of poly-(ethylenimine) (PEI) that has been modified with sulfamate functionalities (S-PEI) using Zr4+-complexation interlayer linking chemistry. We have also deposited adlayers of graphene oxide (GO) that have been modified to possess sulfate functionalities (S-GO), onto the S-PEI layers. The multilayer assemblies are formed with sulfamate/sulfate and sulfate/sulfate (S-PEI + S-GO) interlayer linking chemistry. In all cases the adlayer thickness is consistent with predictions based on van der Waals volume and/or molecular mechanics calculations. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) is used to characterize the Zr/S stoichiometry in the multilayer assembly. The utility of these hybrid multilayer structures is demonstrated in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, where they are shown to reduce H2 gas crossover by 15% with only a 12 nm thick layer.
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