Dispersion Stability and Surface Morphology Study of Electrochemically Exfoliated Bilayer Graphene Oxide

Abstract

During the last decade, electrochemical exfoliation of graphite has aroused great interest from both academia and industry for mass production of graphene sheets. Electrochemically exfoliated graphene oxide (EGO) features a much better tunability than chemically EGO, or even than graphene obtained with ultrasonic exfoliation. Chemical and electrical properties of EGO can be modified extensively, thanks to its step-controllable oxidation process, varying the electrolytes and/or the applied potential. It is thus possible, using tunable electrochemical oxidation, to produce low-defect EGO sheets, featuring both good electric conductivity and good dispersibility in common solvents (e.g., acetonitrile or isopropanol). This greatly facilitates its application in several fields, for example, in flexible electronics. In this work, we correlate the dispersion behavior of EGO with its chemical properties using the relative Hansen solubility parameter, zeta potential values, X-ray photoemission spectroscopy, and Raman analysis. A surface morphology study by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy analyses also reveals that EGO sheets are multiple structures of (partially oxidized) graphene bilayers. Conductive EGO films could be easily prepared by vacuum filtration on different substrates, obtaining electrical conductivity values of up to ∼104 S/m with no need for further reduction procedures.