A reflection on “Formation and processability of liquid crystalline dispersions of graphene oxide”

Over the last decade, significant progress has been made in researching liquid crystal (LC) dispersions derived from graphene oxide and, subsequently, from other two-dimensional (2D) materials. Our communication in Materials Horizons in 2014 (R. Jalili, S. H. Aboutalebi, D. Esrafilzadeh, K. Konstantinov, J. M. Razal, S. E. Moulton and G. G. Wallace, Mater. Horiz., 2014, 1, 87-91, https://doi.org/10.1039/C3MH00050H) provided a foundation for further research. It outlined the critical role of interactions between graphene oxide (GO) sheets and water and the importance of sheet size in determining the ability to exhibit LC behaviour, enabling control of rheological properties and hence rendering dispersions amenable to subsequent fabrication processes such as fibre spinning and 3D printing. The primary objective of our research was to clarify the complexities involved in determining the production and processability of these dispersions, thereby establishing a forward-thinking foundation that has had a lasting impact on the practical applications of graphene, other 2D materials and structures containing them.