Sustainable Synthesis and Characterizationof Corncob‐Derived Graphene Oxide

Recently, though graphene oxide (GO) has shown promising applications in many fields, there have not been many studies focusing on exploiting the source of synthetic precursors of GO. Herein, GO was synthesized from the cellulose of corncob by corncob alkalization, bleaching cellulose, pyrolysis, and improved Hummer's method. It was found that pyrolysis plays an important role in the graphitization of cellulose precursors with the catalyst Fe(NO3)3 to form Gi‐Fe(NO3)3. The GO material synthesized from Gi‐Fe(NO3)3 was characterized by advanced analytical methods. The X‐ray diffraction pattern of Gi‐Fe(NO3)3 shows the formation of a diffraction peak at the crystal plane (002), which is characteristic of the graphite material. The synthesized GO underwent a series of changes in material structure and morphology, which are confirmed via transmission electron microscopy images showing a plate‐like structure with folds represented by the dark line. This study demonstrates a sustainable approach that directly utilizes abundant biomass resources for the synthesis of GO material. The graphic of the synthesis routine for the high‐quality graphene oxide via the improved Hummers′ method derived from the corncobs which are treated by alkalization, bleaching, and pyrolysis.