Evaluation of morphological, structural, thermal, electrical, and chemical composition properties of graphene oxide, and reduced graphene oxide obtained by sequential reduction methods
Hülya Kaftelen‐Odabaşı
Abstract
• The study investigates the structural and chemical properties of graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) using SEM, XRD, FTIR, TGA, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS elemental analysis. The electrical conductivity of GO and RGO samples were evaluated and correlated with the structural and chemical properties. • The results indicate that the reduction processes significantly affect the morphology, surface area, and functional groups of RGO samples. Notably, RGO-EHL showed the most effective removal of oxygen functional groups, resulting in improved thermal stability and electrical conductivity. • The findings suggest that combining ethylene glycol with hydrazine and ascorbic acid is an effective method for producing high-quality RGO with the highest conductivity value. This study investigates the preparation and characterization of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) derived from graphene oxide (GO) using various reduction methods, including ethylene glycol (EG), hydrazine, ascorbic acid, thermal reduction, and their sequential combinations. Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman spectroscopy, and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to analyze the morphological, structural, and thermal properties, as well as the composition and the functional groups of graphene oxide and its reduced forms. The highest electrical conductivity value of about 2500 S/m was obtained after the combined ascorbic acid-ethylene glycol-hydrazine treatment, which is attributed to the increase in C/O ratio determined by XPS compositional analysis and the decrease in area defects, as confirmed by Raman analysis.