Nacre Shell Inspired Self Assembly of Graphene Oxide-Lipid Nanocomposites

Nanoscale graphene oxide-lipid composites have shown wide applications in the field of biosensing and nanosafety. Macroscopic free-standing membranes of this combination potentially offer excellent mechanical properties which can be attributed to the inherent strength of graphene oxide(GO). Previous experimental studies have mostly dealt with monolayer or bilayer interactions of lipids with graphene and graphene oxide surfaces. In our study, we report for the first time, a simple and scalable fabrication method where Small Unilamellar Vesicles (SUVs) of 1,2-dioleoyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine(DOPC) combine with graphene oxide to produce stable nanocomposites via self-assembly. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images of the composite revealed layer-by-layer structures, reconfirmed by X-Ray Diffraction(XRD) results which show a proportional increase in the interlayer separation with an increasing ratio of lipid in graphene oxide. The nanocomposite thus fabricated mimics naturally occurring nacre shell structures where graphene oxide substitutes the strong aragonite layers, and the intermediate lipid layers provide the necessary elasticity pertaining to protein chitin in nacre. The addition of lipids to graphene-based nanocomposites also serves as a biodegradable alternative to using polymers as a popular reinforcement agent. The ease of fabrication method reported facilitates the production of stable GO-Lipid membranes in variable scales and geometries.