Graphite oxide sheet, now called graphene oxide (GO), is the product of chemical exfoliation of graphite and has been known for more than a century. GO has been largely viewed as hydrophilic, presumably due to its excellent colloidal stability in water. Here we report that GO is an amphiphile with hydrophilic edges and a more hydrophobic basal plane. GO can act like a surfactant, as measured by its ability to adsorb on interfaces and lower the surface or interfacial tension. Since the degree of ionization of the edge -COOH groups is affected by pH, GO's amphiphilicity can be tuned by pH. In addition, size-dependent amphiphilicity of GO sheets is observed. Since each GO sheet is a single molecule as well as a colloidal particle, the molecule-colloid duality makes it behave like both a molecular and a colloidal surfactant. For example, GO is capable of creating highly stable Pickering emulsions of organic solvents like solid particles. It can also act as a molecular dispersing agent to process insoluble materials such as graphite and carbon nanotubes in water. The ease of its conversion to chemically modified graphene could enable new opportunities in solution processing of functional materials.

MoS2 is a two-dimensional material that is gaining prominence due to its unique electronic and chemical properties. Here, we demonstrate ligand conjugation of chemically exfoliated MoS2 using thiol chemistry. Using this method, we modulate the zeta-potential and colloidal stability of MoS2 sheets through ligand designs, thus enabling its usage as a selective artificial protein receptor for β-galactosidase. The facile thiol functionalization route opens the door for surface modifications of solution processable MoS2 sheets.

Graphene based sheets have stimulated great interest due to their superior mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties. A general visualization method that allows quick observation of these single atomic layers would be highly desirable as it can greatly facilitate sample evaluation and manipulation, and provide immediate feedback to improve synthesis and processing strategies. Here we report that graphene based sheets can be made highly visible under a fluorescence microscope by quenching the emission from a dye coating, which can be conveniently removed afterward by rinsing without disrupting the sheets. Current imaging techniques for graphene based sheets rely on the use of special substrates. In contrast, the fluorescence quenching mechanism is no longer limited by the type of substrate. Graphene, reduced graphene oxide, or even graphene oxide sheets deposited on arbitrary substrates can now be readily visualized with good contrast for layer counting. Direct observation of suspended sheets in solution was also demonstrated. The fluorescence quenching microscopy offers unprecedented imaging flexibility and could become a general tool for characterizing graphene based materials.

Two‐dimensional bio‐dynamite: Chemically exfoliated MoS2 (ceMoS2), a water‐dispersible sheet‐like material, is an efficient near‐infrared (NIR) photothermal transducer. The superior bio‐supramolecular properties of ceMoS2 and the ability of this material to destroy biomolecular targets through near‐infrared (NIR) photothermal transduction were studied (see picture).

Graphite oxide sheets, now called graphene oxide (GO), can be made from chemical exfoliation of graphite by reactions that have been known for 150 years. Because GO is a promising solution-processable precursor for the bulk production of graphene, interest in this old material has resurged. The reactions to produce GO add oxygenated functional groups to the graphene sheets on their basal plane and edges, and this derivatization breaks the π-conjugated network, resulting in electrically insulating but highly water-dispersible sheets. Apart from making graphene, GO itself has many intriguing properties. Like graphene, GO is a two-dimensional (2D) sheet with feature sizes at two abruptly different length scales. The apparent thickness of the functionalized carbon sheet is approximately 1 nm, but the lateral dimensions can range from a few nanometers to hundreds of micrometers. Therefore, researchers can think of GO as either a single molecule or a particle, depending on which length scale is of greater interest. At the same time, GO can be viewed as an unconventional soft material, such as a 2D polymer, highly anisotropic colloid, membrane, liquid crystal, or amphiphile. In this Account, we highlight the soft material characteristics of GO. GO consists of nanographitic patches surrounded by largely disordered, oxygenated domains. Such structural characteristics effectively make GO a 2D amphiphile with a hydrophilic periphery and largely hydrophobic center. This insight has led to better understanding of the solution properties of GO for making thin films and new applications of GO as a surfactant. Changes in pH and sheet size can tune the amphiphilicity of GO, leading to intriguing interfacial activities. In addition, new all-carbon composites made of only graphitic nanostructures using GO as a dispersing agent have potential applications in photovoltaics and energy storage. On the other hand, GO can function as a 2D random diblock copolymer, one block graphitic and the other heavily hydroxylated. Therefore, GO can guide material assembly through π-π stacking and hydrogen bonding. Additionally, the selective etching of the more reactive sp(3) blocks produces a porous GO network, which greatly enhances interactions with gas molecules in chemical sensors. With their high aspect ratio, GO colloids can readily align to form liquid crystalline phases at high concentration. As single-atomic, water-dispersible, soft carbon sheets that can be easily converted to a conductive form, this 2D material should continue to inspire many curiosity-driven discoveries and applications at the interfaces of chemistry, materials science, and other disciplines.