Facile synthesis of decorated graphene oxide sheets with WO3 nanoparticles

Potential applications of graphene oxide (GO) nanocomposites have attracted remarkable attention to modify its properties by functionalizing and decorating with nanoparticles. In this work, after synthesis of GO sheets by oxidation and exfoliation of natural graphite, they were decorated with tungsten oxide nanoparticles using arc discharge in GO solution. Transmission electron microscopy shows that the chain of WO3 nanoparticles decorates the GO sheets. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy show that WO3 nanoparticles are attached to GO sheets by bond formation between the tungsten and oxygen of functional groups, especially with epoxides on the GO sheets. Nanocomposite production in different arc currents shows that the greater the electrical current, the stronger the bond is formed between WO3 and GO. X-ray diffraction confirms that the WO3 nanoparticles on the GO are highly crystalline in monoclinic phase. Moreover, by increasing the arc current from 20 to 40 A, the band gap energy of GO + WO3 decreases to similar to 2.6 eV.