High Strength Graphene Nanocomposites with Tunable Architectures Through Layer-by-Layer Assembly

Despite the tremendous efforts in utilizing the high strength of graphene sheet to produce high quality engineering composites, the results are not satisfying. Common techniques including filtration or solution casting have limited controllability over the fabrication process, thus are poor in manipulating the interactions between graphene and various polymers and often result in non-uniform structures and inadequate mechanical properties. In addition, these techniques are difficult in controlling thickness with nanoscale accuracy and are incompatible with current micro fabrication procedures. Here, we demonstrate that high strength and toughness graphene nanocomposite can be made through layer-by-layer assembly. It was discovered that sonication time can influence the thickness of multilayer graphene building blocks, which could be taken advantage of to manipulate the structures, thus the properties of final material. In the end, it was shown that micro features can be made on these composites using photolithography.