Effect of reduction time on optical properties of reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

Graphene and its’ derivatives received tremendous attention. The characteristics and properties of graphene made the material suitable to be used in many applications such as polymer composites, transistors and sensors. Graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are few examples of graphene derivatives. GO can be synthesized in many ways. In this study, GO was produced via modified Hummer’s method. Meanwhile, sodium borohydride (NaBH4) is chosen as a reductant to further reduce the GO via chemical reduction. The material was characterized using FT-IR, UV-Vis and FESEM to observe the characteristics which occurred during the reduction process. From the FT-IR spectrum it is clearly shown that the carbonyl (C=O) and epoxy groups were eliminated on rGO. On the other hand, the band gap value of rGO reduced gradually as the reduction time increase. Besides that, the morphology of GO and rGO was also compared under the magnification of 2500x.