Sustainable production of graphene oxide with ascorbic acid reduction: characterization and insights

Thaddeus Lee; Chun Hui Tan; Chai Yan Ng; Hing Wah Lee; Chun Hong Voon; Foo Wah Low

doi:10.58915/ijneam.v17i4.1279

Authors

Thaddeus Lee Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia and Centre for Advanced and Sustainable Materials Research (CASMR), Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Chun Hui Tan Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia and Centre for Advanced and Sustainable Materials Research (CASMR), Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Chai Yan Ng Centre for Advanced and Sustainable Materials Research (CASMR), Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia and Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia
Hing Wah Lee Center for Semiconductor and Thin Film Research, MIMOS Berhad, Technology Park Malaysia, 57000 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Chun Hong Voon Institute of Nano Electronic Engineering, Universiti Malaysia Perlis, Kangar, Malaysia
Foo Wah Low Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia and Centre for Advanced and Sustainable Materials Research (CASMR), Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, 43000 Kajang, Selangor, Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58915/ijneam.v17i4.1279

Abstract

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was synthesized from graphite powder using KMnO₄ and a concentrated mixture of H₂SO₄/H₃PO₄. The obtained GO was subsequently reduced using ascorbic acid. The ratios of H₂SO₄ to H₃PO₄ and KMnO₄ to graphite powder were kept constant. The synthesized GO and reduced graphene oxide (rGO) were evaluated using UV-visible spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM, and EDX. The findings showed that processing graphite powder with KMnO₄ at 60 °C for 12 hours resulted in a high degree of oxidation and minimal defects. Furthermore, ascorbic acid, an alternative to highly toxic hydrazine, aided in eliminating oxygen-containing functional groups in the rGO. This study focuses on the properties of GO produced using the improved Hummer's method, and the changes observed after chemical reduction.