Using glucosamine as a reductant to prepare reduced graphene oxide and its nanocomposites with metal nanoparticles

Abstract

A green and facile approach of producing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) with a monosaccharide medicine glucosamine (GL) was developed. The effect of several factors on the GO reduction, including pH, the weight ratio of GL/GO, and the reaction temperature was studied. The deoxygenation process was monitored with UV–Vis absorption spectroscopy, and the reducing degree of GO was determined with X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, thermo-gravimetric analysis, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. Au nanoparticles (about 3.3–4.2 nm) (AuNPs)/RGO and Ag nanoparticles (about 6 nm) (AgNPs)/RGO materials were prepared in two different ways using the above reduction method. They were then used to catalyze the Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reaction of phenyl halide and phenylboronic acid to produce biphenyl, and the highest yield of biphenyl for AuNPs/RGO was 99 %. In addition, the AgNPs/RGO materials exhibited a surface-enhanced Raman scattering effect, and some RGO peaks were enhanced. This approach opens up a new, practical, and green reducing method to prepare RGO for large-scale practical application.