Study on Electrical Conductivity of Graphene Oxide Decorated with Silver Nanoparticle for Electrochemical Sensor Development

This research aims to characterize the conductivity of synthesized silver-decorated with graphene oxide (Ag-GO) as a new material that offers better performance in electrochemical sensors. Graphene oxide (GO) was produced using a modified Hummer's method and then decorated with silver nanoparticles to produce Ag-GO. The samples were analyzed using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and Raman analysis, while conductivity was calculated using impedance spectroscopy. The FESEM imagery showed the difference in the structure between GO and Ag-GO, with the Ag-GO presenting white particles on top of the GO structure. The presence of these particles was confirmed by the EDX spectra, which also showed the weight percentages of the silver nanoparticles. The XRD spectra demonstrated the crystallinity of the sample before and after the silver nanoparticles were added to the GO. Raman spectroscopy revealed detailed information on the samples with the appearance of the 1578 G band and 1342 D band of GO. Finally, the conductivity increased to 3.67 x 10-10 S cm-1 when 60 mg of silver nanoparticles were added to the samples.