Fast and Fully Scalable Synthesis of Graphene Oxide from Cellulose by Catalytic Acid Spray Method (CAS)

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) characterized by high electrical conductivity and thermal stability can be considered as a single monomolecular graphite layer, containing numerous functional oxygen groups such as epoxide, carbonyl, carboxyl and hydroxyl groups. Therefore, in this work, we have come to produce high quantities of GO sheets by innovative, simple and hydrazine-free methods based on rice straw, using catalytic acid spray method (CAS) in the presence of cobalt silicate nanoparticle as a catalyst. The structure of graphene oxide was characterized by FTIR, Raman, HR-TEM and DLS. FTIR shows that GO comprises some efficient hydroxyl (OH), epoxy (cyclic ether), carboxyl and carbonyl groups. XRD shows that the interlayer spacing of GO prepared by our techniques is higher to some extent than the interlayer spacing of other GO produced by another processes. We can say that, GO sheets can be produced for various applications, in large quantities, high efficiency and low cost, by adjusting the parameters such as acid strength or catalytic doses used in the CAS method. Thereby, we can overcome the weak inter-bond between the GO sheets without cracking them.