Synthesis and characterization of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

Graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide are 2D carbon materials that have been largely studied due to their unique proprieties and their potential applications. There are various methods to obtain these materials. The Hummer method is the most used, but there are several modifications that can be found in literature. In this study, two different modifications on Hummer method were tested to obtain graphene oxide and two different purification methods (filtration and centrifugation) were tested. The graphene oxides obtained were reduced. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction, attenuated total reflectance - Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. According to the results obtained from the characterization techniques, the modification in Hummer method that treated the graphite before the reaction were more effective in the oxidation. This method was repeated and the results obtained were similar, what confirms that it is a method that has a good reproducibility. The results obtained from the reduction of the graphene oxides prepared were satisfactory and no difference could be noticed in the different purification methods.