Oxidation of graphene via a simplified Hummers’ method for graphene-diamine colloid production

Abstract

Graphene oxide was prepared by oxidizing the graphene via a simplified Hummers’ method, where it had involved the oxidization of the ultrasonically exfoliated water-dispersible graphene in a H2SO4/HNO3 mixture and the neutralization effect of NaOH, but without the presence of the KMnO4 oxidation agent. From the investigations that were conducted on the physiochemical and structural properties of the material under the Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) techniques, the graphene was found to have been oxidized and its geometrical topology damaged by the use of strong acids. Apart from the SEM images that were used in the morphology comparison of the oxidized and pristine graphene, the XRD results from this experiment had also demonstrated 2θ of the 12.02° as having an interlayer spacing of 0.77 nm. Keywords: Carbon materials, Nanocomposites, Functional, Colloidal processing, Composite materials