Browsing by Author "Tzoneva I."

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    Exploring the impact of different soft reducers in Reduced Graphene Oxide synthesis
    (2019-01-01) Kichukova D.; Staneva A.; Kovacheva D.; Tzoneva I.
    The most common way for the synthesis of bulk graphene is based on exfoliation of graphite. This method involves oxidation of graphite using highly oxidizing agents and subsequently reducing graphene oxide (GO) to graphene. Reduced graphene oxide (RGO) is prepared from reduction of GO by thermal, chemical or electrical treatments. Different reducing agents are widely used for the chemical reduction. However, many of the commonly used reducing agents are hazardous. To decrease the level of toxicity, ``green`` materials recently were applied. The present study reports the preparation of RGO with the use of mild and nontoxic reducing agents. The obtained materials were characterized by X-Ray powder diffraction, Raman and FTIR spectroscopy, as well as by SEM and TEM electron mycroscopy. The results show that at the conditions choosen for the experiment glycerol, ethylene glycol and citric acid do not reduce GO. The use of succrose, acetic acid and oxalic acid in the rection process resulted in an incomplete reduction of GO, The use of urea, L-ascorbic acid and glycine leaded to the removal of interlayer functional groups in GO where the complete reduction of GO is acheaved in the case of the use of L-ascorbic acid and glycine. The results show that L-ascorbic acid and glycine reduce graphene oxide effectively but, depending on the type of the reducer, the morphological properties of the obtained RGO are different.