Facile One-Pot Synthesis of Graphene Oxide by Sonication Assisted Mechanochemical Approach and Its Surface Chemistry

Facile one pot synthesis of graphene oxide (GO) by sonication assisted mechanochemical approach has been reported here. The amalgamation of ultrasonication and mechanical stirring has assisted the synthesis of GO in a short time duration of only 4 hours with good reaction yield. The structural characterization of GO was performed by X-ray diffraction spectroscopy (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), UV-Visible spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Atomic force microscopic (AFM) analysis manifested the flake like morphology of GO with average sheet thickness ~1.5 nm. AFM also provides important information about the surface roughness. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) analysis gave clear visualization of well exfoliated structure of GO in the form of thin flakes. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis revealed a crimpling surface morphology of GO. The average size of GO flake as revealed through various morphological as well as light scattering techniques was around 3 μm. Moreover, important surface chemistry of the synthesized GO was well ascertained through contact angle analysis, AFM analysis and zeta potential analysis.