Graphene oxide induced graphitic structure in carbon films with high flexibility

Free-standing carbon (FSC) films were prepared by stabilization and carbonization of graphene oxide (GO)/polyacrylonitrile (PAN) blending films. These films incorporated with reduced GO (r-GO) exhibited much better flexibility than that of the pure carbon film. The morphologies showed that the intermediate layers formed with larger and denser graphite plane structure were induced by GO template and ordered along the r-GO sheets. It was believed that the induced graphitic structure, the preferred orientation of r-GO sheets, and the defects in FSC films help to improve the flexibility of FSC films.