Dehydration of polymer chains initiates graphene folding in water

The popularity of graphene origami - eyed for applications in electronics, energy harvesting, molecular storage and membrane development - has been on the rise for the last few years. Experimental studies have demonstrated that graphene grafted with thermo-sensitive polymers such as poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAM) folds into three-dimensional (3D) structures in response to change in the surrounding temperature. This process, attributed to...