Plasma fluorination of chemically derived graphene sheets and subsequent modification with butylamine

We describe a facile and scalable surface treatment for the functionalization of the graphene sheets (GSs). The approach consists of a surface plasma treatment of GSs by first covalently attaching fluorine and then exposing the obtained fluorinated graphene sheets (F-GSs) to a polymerization initiator such as butylamine at room temperature. Infrared and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy have been used to demonstrate that both the fluorination of the GSs and the subsequent attachment of the amino groups to the GSs thorough the elimination of the fluorine atoms have been obtained. The successful dispersion of graphene nanosheets in organic solvents is extremely useful for their use as additives in polymer-based composites and other functional applications.