Graphene Oxide at Interfaces: New Insights of an Old Material
Jiaxing Huang, Ph.D.
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Abstract: Graphite oxide sheets, now called graphene oxide (GO), are made by exfoliation of graphite using century-old chemical reactions. Interest in this old material has resurged with the rapid development of graphene since 2004, as GO is considered to be a promising precursor for bulk production of graphene. In this talk, I will present some of our works driven by both curiosities and problems associated with large scale production and use of GO and its graphene products. For example, GO can be viewed as soft material such as two-dimensional (2D) polymers, sheet-like colloids that can form liquid crystals, membranes, or 2D amphiphiles. Next, some problem-driven discoveries will be presented addressing the potential fire risk of GO, the need for high-throughput imaging of GO and graphene on arbitrary substrates, and how to make them resist aggregation during material processing.
Biosketch: Jiaxing Huang is an Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Morris E. Fine Junior Professor in Materials and Manufacturing at Northwestern University. He received a Ph.D. in chemistry from UCLA in 2004. His graduate work in conducting polymer nanostructures was recognized by the National Starch & Chemical Award in Outstanding Graduate Research in Polymer Chemistry from ACS, and an IUPAC Prize for Young Chemists. He then became a Miller Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley before joining Northwestern in 2007. His main research interest is in the general area of material chemistry and processing. Some of the examples include 2D soft materials, organic nanocrystals and metal nanostructures. He is a recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship and the NSF CAREER Award.