A simple approach for synthesis of graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide.

Nowadays, investigations based on nanotechnology undertake breakthroughs in many application areas such as manufacturing, materials, nanoelectronics, energy, biotechnology, medicine, information technology and others. Excellent properties of graphene-based materials, that are crucial in wide range of applications, continuously highlight this promising new compound. Among them is for example graphene oxide (GO). It is an oxidized form of graphene with oxygen functional groups (carboxyl, hydroxyl, carbonyl, and epoxy) in the carbon lattice. However, the oxidation of graphite to GO introduces defects into the carbon structure that result in significantly altered physio-chemical properties, which are in some application undesirable. One way to overcome the difficulties is to consider reduced graphene oxide (rGO) with decreased oxygen content. Material has altered physicochemical properties such as optical and surface functionalities, originating predominantly from higher electron mobility. The present work addresses the synthesis of GO, and rGO by introducing a simple approach and provides structural, morphological, chemical and physical analysis of the synthesized material. GO was prepared by chemical oxidation and exfoliation of graphite flakes (particle size = 50 µm) using Hummer's method. rGO was, on the other hand, prepared by the hydrothermal method. Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and Raman spectroscopy were used to evaluate characteristic of this already known material. Results show that GO and rGO synthesized by the presented method, exhibit properties suitable for wide range of applications such as in supercapacitors, water purification, and also as composite materials in coatings and even solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]