Tunability by alkali metal cations of photoinduced charge separation in azacrown functionalized graphene

A modified graphene oxide containing aza-9-crown-3 ether units covalently anchored has been prepared; aqueous suspensions of this material in the presence of Li+, Na+ and K+ cations exhibit enhanced electrochemical response, enhanced photoinduced charge separation and longer lifetimes, facts that can be attributed to stabilization of electrons on graphene oxide by the nearby alkali metal cation-azacrown complexes.