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Swelling of Brodie graphite oxide (B-GO) was studied for a series of normal alcohols from methanol to 1-nonanol. Isopiestic, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric, and differential scanning calorimetry data demonstrated that sorption of polar liquids into GO lamellas formed the set of regular swollen structures, simple binary “solid solvates”, characterized by the distance between the GO planes and the value of sorption. Temperature–composition behavior of the swollen structures was adequately described by conventional binary phase diagrams. Phase transformation of the low-temperature swollen structure of B-GO with 1-nonanol gave a clear example of incongruent melting transition typical for the binary solvates. A discreet set of the interplane distances observed by XRD and the stepwise equilibrium desorption pointed to the layered arrangement of solvent molecules in the swollen structures. The swollen structures with one to five parallel layers were observed for a series of normal alcohols with B-GO. The average volume of one layer, 0.36 ± 0.06 cm3 g–1 B-GO, was almost the same for rather different organic liquids and was possibly restricted by the internal geometry of B-GO. This internal volume available for the sorption of the first layer was reasonably estimated from geometrical parameters of B-GO.

In this article, it is shown that by exposing commonly used lipids for biomembrane mimicking studies, to a solution containing the histidine-rich intrinsically disordered protein histatin 5, a protein cushion spontaneously forms underneath the bilayer. The underlying mechanism is attributed to have an electrostatic origin, and it is hypothesized that the observed behavior is due to proton charge fluctuations promoting attractive electrostatic interactions between the positively charged proteins and the anionic surfaces, with concomitant counterion release. Hence, we anticipate that this novel "green" approach of forming cushioned bilayers can be an important tool to mimic the cell membrane without the disturbance of the solid substrate, thereby achieving a further understanding of protein-cell interactions.

Permeation of multilayered graphene oxide (GO) membranes by polar solvents is known to correlate with their swelling properties and amount of sorbed solvent. However, quantitative estimation of sorption using standard (e.g., gravimetric) methods is technically challenging for few nanometers thick GO membranes/films exposed to solvent vapors. Neutron reflectivity (NR) was used here to evaluate the amount of solvents intercalated into the film which consists of only ∼31.5 layers of GO. Analysis of NR data recorded from the GO film exposed to vapors of polar solvents provides information about change of film thickness due to swelling, amount of intercalated solvent, and selectivity in sorption of solvents from binary mixtures. A quantitative study of GO film sorption was performed for D2O, d-methanol, ethanol, dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), acetonitrile, dimethylformamide (DMF), and acetone. Using isotopic contrast, we estimated selectivity in sorption of ethanol/d-methanol mixtures by the GO film. Estimation of sorption selectivity was also performed for D2O/DMF, D2O/DMSO, and D2O/acetonitrile binary mixtures. Sorption of polar solvents was compared for the thin GO film, micrometer thick free standing GO membranes, and graphite oxide powders.

Solvothermal reaction of graphite oxide (GO) with benzene-1,4-diboronic acid (DBA) was reported previously to result in formation of graphene oxide framework (GOF) materials. The theoretical structure of GOFs consists of graphene layers separated by benzene-diboronic “pillars” with ∼1 nm slit pores thus providing the opportunity to use it as a model material to verify the effect of a small pore size on hydrogen adsorption. A set of samples with specific surface area (SSA) in the range of ∼50–1000 m2/g were prepared using variations of synthesis conditions and GO/DBA proportions. Hydrogen storage properties of GOF samples evaluated at 293 and 77 K were found to be similar to other nanocarbon trends in relation to SSA values. Structural characterization of GO/DBA samples showed all typical features reported as evidence for formation of a framework structure such as expanded interlayer distance, increased temperature of thermal exfoliation, typical features in FTIR spectra, etc. However, the samples also exh...