A UV-light induced photochemical method for graphene oxide reduction

Chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) has been considered as a promising route towards the large scale production of graphene. Herein, a rapid, efficient photochemical method for preparing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) by ultraviolet (UV) irradiation of a mixture solution containing a photoinitiator and Monoethanolamine (MEA) compound in ethanol has been developed. In this route, phenylbis(2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyl)phosphine oxide (GR-XBPO) was used as the reductant and MEA as the oxygen inhibition agent. After UV irradiation, oxygen-containing groups (OCGs) on GO plane and edges are being largely removed due to the reduction of GO by free radicals generated by photoinitiator decomposition. X-ray diffraction, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and ultraviolet and visible spectrophotometer showed that GR-XBPO can efficiently reduce GO at room temperature. It is also found that the electrical conductivity of RGO fabricated by this rapid route (similar to 10 min) is more competitive compared to other reported works. Moreover the corresponding reduction mechanism was being discussed. This work puts forward a novel method for preparing graphene, and has great potential in scaling up graphene production and developing graphene materials.