In Situ Synthesis of Ultrathin Amorphous Silica Nanosheet with Large Specific Surface Area on Graphene Oxide

Controlling the assembly of silica, forming monolith, mesoporous, dendritic, and nanosheet structures, has been conducted using a template method with an appropriate solvent or surfactant. Recently, two-dimensional materials, such as graphene oxide (GO), were used as the template to fabricate silica nanosheets (SNs). SNs with a lamellar structure and unique properties have been synthesized using surfactant as the template; however, SNs with ultrathin thicknesses below 2 nm and high specific surface areas have not been achieved previously. Therefore, we developed the in situ synthesis of ultrathin SNs using GO functionalized with alkoxysilanes that have amino groups. The SNs were about 1 nm thick and had an amorphous structure and high specific surface areas (904 m2/g).