Investigation of microstructure, surface roughness and thermo-stability of reduced graphene synthesized in an aqueous piranha solution via electrochemical method

Abstract

An applied voltage induces ionic species to intercalate into graphite, where they generate gaseous species that expand and exfoliate individual graphene sheets. Electrochemical exfoliation is a promising bulk process for creating graphene from graphite. In this study, a bulk graphene nano material is electrochemically produced in an aqueous solution of piranha solution. The process is carried out in an enclosed environment to reduce the flaws and structural disabilities. Throughout the process of exfoliation, a potential of 24 V DC has been supplied at a modest level for a certain period of time. As an electrolyte, a combination of sulphuric acid and hydrogen peroxide in the proportion of 6:2 has been utilised. The preoxidized graphite that is acquired by oxidation is then subjected to a thermal reduction process at a temperature of 550 °C for a duration of three hours.The microstructure of thermally reduced graphene oxide (T-rGO) is analysed with field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), the maximum surface roughness found to be 1.57 nm on an angstrom-scale level, it is able to determine the surface roughness of samples and total weight loss has been occurred at around 60 % between the temperature range of 600–900 °C.