Synthesis and characterization of graphene oxide and graphene from coal

Abstract

The present research work deals with the synthesis and characterization of the graphene oxide (GO) and graphene from coal as a precursor material. First, the collected coal was dried and converted into the finely powder forms using ball milling process. The GO was synthesized from the coal by means of strong oxidizing agents and it was further reduced in the presence of chemical reagent (sodium borohydride) and plant origins (orange peel extract (OPE)) to produce graphene nanosheets. The Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-Visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS) analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), simultaneous thermogravimetry (TG) method with differential thermal analysis (DTA) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were studied to investigate the synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) and graphene and their nanostructure morphology, size distribution in solution along with thermal properties. The FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy established the formation of GO from coal, and DLS and SEM analysis further confirm the developed methodology for synthesis of the GO and graphene from coal resources. The XRD analysis established the successful synthesis of the GO from the coal. The TG method with DTA and DSC also verified the prepared GO and graphene. The methodologies implemented here for synthesis of the GO and subsequent graphene has fulfilled the objectives of the current research works.