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A UV-light induced photochemical method for graphene oxide reduction

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Abstract

Chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) has been considered as a promising route towards the large scale production of graphene. Herein, a rapid, efficient photochemical method for preparing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a mixture solution containing a photoinitiator and Monoethanolamine (MEA) compound in ethanol has been developed. In this route, phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (GR-XBPO) was used as the reductant and MEA as the oxygen inhibition agent. After UV irradiation, oxygen-containing groups (OCGs) on GO plane and edges are being largely removed due to the reduction of GO by free radicals generated by photoinitiator decomposition. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometer showed that GR-XBPO can efficiently reduce GO at room temperature. It is also found that the electrical conductivity of RGO fabricated by this rapid route (~10 min) is more competitive compared to other reported works. Moreover the corresponding reduction mechanism was being discussed. This work puts forward a novel method for preparing graphene, and has great potential in scaling up graphene production and developing graphene materials.

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Acknowledgement

This work was supported by Shenzhen Rongda Photosensitive Science and Technolgy Co., Ltd, China.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Bing Xue & Yingquan Zou

  2. Shenzhen Rongda Photosensitive Science and Technology Co., Ltd, Shenzhen, 518103, China

    Yuchun Yang

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  1. Bing Xue
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  2. Yingquan Zou
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Correspondence to Yingquan Zou.

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Xue, B., Zou, Y. & Yang, Y. A UV-light induced photochemical method for graphene oxide reduction. J Mater Sci 52, 12742–12750 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1266-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-017-1266-4

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