Chemically modified graphene has been studied in many applications due to its excellent electrical, mechanical, and thermal properties. Among the chemically modified graphenes, reduced graphene oxide is the most important for its structure and properties, which are similar to pristine graphene. Here, we introduce an environment-friendly approach for preparation of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets through the reduction of graphene oxide that employs L-cysteine as the reductant under mild reaction conditions. The conductivity of the reduced graphene oxide nanosheets produced in this way increases by about 10(6) times in comparison to that of graphene oxide. This is the first report about using amino acids as a reductant for the preparation of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets, and this procedure offers an alternative route to large-scale production of reduced graphene oxide nanosheets for applications that require such material.

A novel type of quantum dot (Ph-CN) is manufactured from graphitic carbon nitride by "lining" the carbon nitride structure with phenyl groups through supramolecular preorganization. This approach requires no chemical etching or hydrothermal treatments like other competing nanoparticle syntheses and is easy and safe to use. The Ph-CN nanoparticles exhibit bright, tunable fluorescence, with a high quantum yield of 48.4 % in aqueous colloidal suspensions. Interestingly, the observed Stokes shift of approximately 200 nm is higher than the maximum values reported for carbon nitride based fluorophores. The high quantum yield and the large Stokes shift are related to the structural surface organization of the phenyl groups, which affects the π-electron delocalization in the conjugated carbon nitride networks and induces colloidal stability. The remarkable performance of the Ph-CN nanoparticles in imaging is demonstrated by a simple incubation study with HeLa cells.

Hydrogels that electronically respond to mechanical changes can be used as strain sensors. However, these systems usually require external power to convert changes in strain into electrical signals. Here, a self-powered strain sensor is developed based on a gelatinbased hydrogel and a galvanic cell. In the hydrogel matrix, hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonding between tannic acid and gelatin give the prepared hydrogel great potential for elongation (1600%). The hydrogel also has a rapid self-healing ability (within 0.65 s) and high self-healing efficiency (95%). The hydrogel operates as an efficient electrolyte material and forms a hydrogel battery when assembled with a thin layer of zinc and an air electrode. This device had excellent tolerance to large compressional strain without sacrificing opencircuit voltage. On the basis of this hydrogel battery, we fabricated a self-powered strain sensor by connecting the hydrogel battery to a fixed resistor to form a closed loop. By converting its chemical energy into electrical energy, the self-powered sensor efficiently converted resistance changes, caused by stretching or compression of the hydrogel, into changes in the voltage output signals without external power. Owing to the stretchability of the hydrogel, the self-powered sensor exhibited good response and flexibility. Self-healing and continuous cycling tests confirmed the long-term stability of the device. These properties suggest that our self-powered sensor has a potential for applications to portable and wearable electronic devices.

A facile one-step solution-based process to in situ synthesize SnO(2)/graphene (SG) nanocomposites was developed, by using the mixture of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and H(2)O as both solvent and reactant. The reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and the in situ formation of SnO(2) nanoparticles were realized in one step. The electrochemical experiments showed the composites provided a better Li-storage performance. The method presented in this paper may provide an effective, economic, and green strategy for the preparation of metal-oxide/graphene nanocomposites.

A flexible free-standing graphene/SnO₂ nanocomposites paper (GSP) was prepared by coupling a simple filtration method and a thermal reduction together for the first time. Compared with the pure SnO₂ nanoparticles, the GSP exhibited a better cycling stability, because the graphene with high mechanical strength and elasticity can work as a buffer to prevent the volume expansion and contraction of SnO₂ nanoparticles during the Li⁺ insertion/extraction process. Meanwhile, compared with single graphene paper, the GSP showed a higher capacity because of the hybridizing with higher capacity SnO₂ nanoparticles. The excellent electrochemical performance of the GSP as an anode material in Li-ion battery was obtained. The as-prepared GSP shows a great potential for flexible Li-ion batteries.