temperature dependent swelling transitions in Hummers graphite oxide immersed in excess of liquid 1-alcohols.

The project suggests in situ XRD study of Hummers graphite oxide (HGO) swelling in liquid 1-alcohols as a function of temperature. According to preliminary data, HGO immersed in long 1-alcohols (carbon numbers C14, C16, C18, C20) shows swelling transition at elevated temperatures with sharp change of inter-layer distance. HGO swelling in small alcohols (methanol and ethanol) is known from earlier studies to show completely different type of structural changes with absent of well defined swelling transitions. No studies were so far performed for HGO in other alcohols between ethanol (C2) and 1-pentadecanol C15. We suggest to study temperature dependence of swelling for HGO immersed in a set of liquid 1-alcohols with chain length C3 to C15. It is expected that swelling transition will be observed for alcohols with C>9 and gradual changes of interlayer distance for smaller alcohols. Adding these data to already collected preliminary results will result in rapid publication.