Simple synthesis of rGO (reduced graphene oxide) by thermal reduction of GO (graphene oxide)

Abstract

The rGO has been synthesized successfully by combination of modified Hummers method and thermal reduction. First, the GO was synthesized by modified Hummers method (chemical exfoliation) of graphite flake. This reaction obtained graphite oxide (GrO) as intermediate material. The materials were characterized by FTIR, XRD, TG/DTA and SEM. The FTIR data shows the functional group of graphite, GrO, GO and rGO, while XRD data shows crystal parameter of them. The TG/DTA was used to study the rGO formation at various of temperature (200, 300 and 400 °C). The rGO had carbonyl, carboxyl, hydroxyl and alkene functional groups and 2 theta peak at around 25° corresponds to [002] plane. The rGO layer by thermal reduction of GO had wrinkle sheets structure from SEM image appearance. In this result, the simple thermal reduction strategy of rGO is possible to control functional group and layer number depends on its application.