Surface morphology of reduced graphene oxide-carbon nanotubes hybrid film for bio-sensing applications

Abstract

Graphene is one of the carbon allotropes that possesses several outstanding properties which is suitable to be used in bio-sensing applications. Reduction of graphene oxide (GO) is the main concern of researchers in preparing better quality of graphene at a lower cost with mass production as the reduced GO partially restores the pristine graphene. The reduced graphene oxide (rGO) is then mixed with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) to form the three-dimensional arrangement of rGO-CNTs hybrid nanocomposite which can overcome the limitations faced while using rGO or MWCNTs separately in bio-sensing applications. Here we demonstrate the sample preparation of rGO-CNTs hybrid film for biosensing applications. GO was prepared by modified Hummer's method and rGO was obtained by reducing GO with L-ascorbic acid. The characterizations of rGO-CNTs hybrid film were examined via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The surface morphologies of GO, MWCNTs, GO-CNTs hybrid and rGO-CNTs hybrid films were observed via SEM. The thickness and the surface roughness of MWCNTs, GO, GO-CNTs hybrid and rGO-CNTs hybrid films were examined via AFM. FTIR was carried out to examine the carboxyl functional group in the rGO-CNTs hybrid film.