In this study, we report the microstructure, rheology and adsorption characteristics of aqueous suspensions of Graphene Oxide (GO) at a volume fraction (phi(GO)) = 0.018, which can be transformed into gels by cation induced charge shielding and cross-linking between GO nanosheets. GO nanosheets of average thickness similar to 1.5 nm and a lateral dimension of similar to 750 nm are synthesized by Hummer's process. At phi(GO) = 0.018, cations of varying size and valence are systematically introduced with electrolytes NH4Cl, LiCl, NaCl, KCl, MgCl2 and FeCl3 at concentrations ranging from 10(-5)-10(-1) M to investigate their effect on the rheology of GO suspensions. Our results suggest that depending on the electrolyte concentration, size and the valence of the cation: low viscosity suspensions, fragile gels and solid-like GO-electrolyte gels are formed. The storage modulus (G') of all GO-electrolyte gels increases with the increase in electrolyte concentration and G' follows the order GO-FeCl3 > GO-MgCl2 > GO-KCl > GO-NaCl > GO-LiCl > GO-NH4Cl. FESEM analysis shows that lyophilized GO-electrolyte gels with 10(-1) M electrolytes have a porous morphology resulting from the aggregation of GO nanosheets. The GO-electrolyte gels are shown to adsorb high quantities of oils, with GO-FeCl3 gels showing a higher adsorption capacity. The GO-NaCl and GO-FeCl3 lyophilized gels are also shown to adsorb methylene blue dye and follow the pseudo-second-order kinetics of adsorption. Along with higher oil and dye adsorption efficiency, GO-electrolyte gels are easy to recollect after the adsorption, thus avoiding the potential toxicity for bio-organisms in water caused by GO nanosheets. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.