Graphene–poly(vinyl alcohol) composites: Fabrication, adsorption and electrochemical properties

Abstract

Porous composites of graphene oxide (GO)–poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) were fabricated using a process of aqueous suspension precursor freezing, solvent exchange, and ethanol drying. When frozen, ice crystals formed leaving a porous structure, composed of randomly oriented GO sheets consolidated by PVA. The yellow GO–PVA composite could be reduced with glucose to obtain a black porous RGO (PRGO). XRD revealed that PVA enlarged the GO interlay spacing in the GO–PVA composite, and that RGO sheets were highly disordered in single or several layers in PRGO. GO–PVA and PRGO exhibited ultralight densities of 10.52 and 11.42 mg/cm3, respectively. GO–PVA adsorbed greater quantities of water, ethanol, and soybean oil than PRGO. The methylene blue (MB) adsorption pattern for both materials was also investigated. The kinetic adsorption and isotherm data fit the pseudo second-order and the Langmuir models, respectively. The maximum adsorption capacity according to the Langmuir isotherm model was 571.4 mg/g for GO–PVA. The electrochemical properties of PRGO were estimated using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectrometry, and chronopotentiometry. The PRGO electrode exhibited large capacitance (82.8 F/g) and small internal resistance (0.52 Ω).