Mechanism of a green graphene oxide reduction with reusable potassium carbonate

Mechanism of a green graphene oxide reduction with reusable potassium carbonate

A green method for the deoxygenation of graphene oxide (GO) was developed using K2CO3 as a reusable
reduction agent. The size and thickness of the reduced GO are less than 1 mm and around 0.85 nm,
respectively. Carbon dioxide is the only byproduct during this process. The reduction mechanism of the
graphene oxide includes two reduction steps. On the one hand, ionic oxygen generated from the
electrochemical reaction between hydroxyl ions and oxygen in the presence of K2CO3 reacts with
carbonyl groups attached to the GO layers at 50 �C. On the other hand, ionic oxygen attacks hydroxyl
and epoxide groups, which become carbonyl groups and then are converted to carbon dioxide by
K2CO3 at 90 �C. These oxygenous groups are finally converted to CO2 from graphene layers, leading to
the formation of graphene sheets. Headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatographymass
spectrometry detected the existence of n-dodecanal and 4-ethylbenzoic acid cyclopentyl ester
during the reduction, suggesting that oxygen functional groups on the GO layers are not only aligned,
but randomly dispersed in some areas based on the proposed mechanism.

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