Controlled Synthesis and Characterization of rGO Materials by Hydrothermal Method ☆

Oxidative exfoliation followed by chemical reduction is an effective method to synthesize reduced graphene oxide (rGO). However, it is challenging to synthesize large scale high quality rGO by a simple and inexpensive method. In this study, rGO materials were synthesized by a scalable hydrothermal method, where the temperatures were controlled to obtain different morphology and quality of rGO. The morphology and quality of the synthesized rGO were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy. Results pointed out that the hydrothermal temperatures strongly influenced on the morphology and quality of the synthesized rGO. Material synthesized at 160oC has the highest quality with layered structure of large rGO flakes. The synthesized rGO is potential for sensing and supercapacitor applications.