A novel chemical functionalized graphene (FG) was fabricated through facial covalent functionalization ethanolamine. The dried functionalized graphene can be dispersed homogeneous in water, ethanol, acetone and N,N-dimethylformamide by treating with ultrsonic. Atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) figures suggest that the functionalized graphene has the average thickness of is 3～4 nm. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the structure of the functionalized graphene. The results showed that ethanolamine had reacted with graphene oxide and connected with hexatomic rings through covalent bonds. The thermostability of functionalized graphene was better than that of graphite oxide, but inferior to that of reduced graphene oxide.

Key words: ethanolamine, functionalization, graphene, dispersion