Abstract
Chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) has been considered as a promising route towards the large scale production of graphene. Herein, a rapid, efficient photochemical method for preparing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a mixture solution containing a photoinitiator and Monoethanolamine (MEA) compound in ethanol has been developed. In this route, phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (GR-XBPO) was used as the reductant and MEA as the oxygen inhibition agent. After UV irradiation, oxygen-containing groups (OCGs) on GO plane and edges are being largely removed due to the reduction of GO by free radicals generated by photoinitiator decomposition. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometer showed that GR-XBPO can efficiently reduce GO at room temperature. It is also found that the electrical conductivity of RGO fabricated by this rapid route (~10 min) is more competitive compared to other reported works. Moreover the corresponding reduction mechanism was being discussed. This work puts forward a novel method for preparing graphene, and has great potential in scaling up graphene production and developing graphene materials.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
