Polymer brushes decorated reduced GO (rGO) with advanced applications have been prepared by bioinspired polydopamine (PDA) chemistry integrated with activators regenerated by electron transfer atom transfer radical polymerization (ARGET-ATRP) technique. First, rGO/PDA was obtained by the process for graphene oxide (GO) coated with a homogeneous bio-adhesive PDA layer. Then the initiator 2-bromoisobutyryl bromide (BIBB) was immobilized on the surface of PDA functionalized rGO. Finally, rGO/PDA-Br was polymerized with N, N-diethylaminoethyl methacrylate (DEAEMA) and glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) to obtain rGO/PDA-g-polymer brushes by ARGET-ATRP process. The prepared rGO/PDA-g-PGMA brush would be subjected to further functionalization with ethylenediamine (EDA), which would impart the obtained products (rGO/PDA-g-PGMA-NH2) with good adsorption ability toward cationic dyes. The chemical structures and morphologies of the functionalized GO products have been characterized in detail by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), Raman spectroscopy, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), scanning electron microscope (SEM), transmission electron microscope(TEM), and atomic force microscopy (AFM). The distinctive pH-responsive character of rGO/PDA-g-PDEAEMA and adsorption ability of rGO/PDA-g-PGMA-NH2 for cationic dyes have been explored by UV-vis spectrophotometer. (c) 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2019, 57, 689-698