Preparation and characterization of reduced graphene oxide using ascorbic acid and sodium citrate as binary reductant

In this article, we successfully prepared transparent and gauze-like reduced graphene oxide (RGO) film with the thickness of only 1.32nm using modified Hummers method and binary reductant consisting of ascorbic acid and sodium citrate. SEM, TEM, AFM, XRD, UV-Vis, and FTIR results all convincingly demonstrated that the reduction of graphite oxide using binary reductant is a feasible method to prepare RGO. In addition, the results also revealed that extending the oxidation time and increasing the ultrasonic oscillation reasonably might improve the oxidation degree of the graphite oxide, the ratio of the D-band Raman intensity to that of the G band (I-D/I-G) reached up to 1.244 in the as-obtained graphite oxide. Moreover, sodium citrate not only increased the reducibility of binary reduction system but also improved the dispersion of graphite oxide. Furthermore, reasonable annealing treatment could reduce the defects of RGO. It is a potential route to prepare RGO films and increase practical applications in large-scale production of graphene.