Synthesis of high-quality graphene oxide from spent mobile phone batteries

Synthesis of high-quality graphene oxide from waste graphite recovered from spent mobile phone batteries was investigated. Graphite powders were easily removed from the anodic copper foil of lithium ion batteries opposed to being sent to landfills. Graphene oxide (GO) was prepared by leaching and oxidation of the graphite with a mixture of potassium permanganate and concentrated sulfuric acid. The structure of GO has been studied using Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Transmission electron microscopy (TEM). FT-IR spectra of GO indicate the existence of -OH, ketone and -O- groups. Crystalline monolayer and multilayer nano-sized structures of exfoliated graphene oxide sample exhibiting atomically smooth edges were observed by SEM and TEM. (c) 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 35: 1485-1491, 2016