Study of the Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Synthesized from Pencil Electrode Using Electrochemical Method and Solar Energy as a Source of Power

Graphene Oxide nanosheets were synthesized using electrochemical exfoliation of pencil electrodes in aqueous solution containing 2% of magnesium sulfate salt. A solar panel of 20V was used as a power supply to turn the synthesis into a green method. Several measurements were carried out to investigate the product, namely: Raman scattering, X-ray diffraction, photoluminescence, UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy, and FTIR spectroscopy. Raman scattering showed the existence of both D-band and G-band, which are an indication of graphene oxide existence. The D-to-G band ratio was 1.5. The results of X-ray showed a diffraction peak at 2θ = 20.7° corresponding to the space distance between graphene oxide nanosheets and a diffraction peak at 2θ = 26.25° corresponding to the short range interplanar spacing. Photoluminescence showed two peaks of emission (at wavelengths 355nm & 701nm) regarding to the π-π* transition. UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy exhibited a 4.2eV photon energy absorption peak corresponding to the aromatic C=C bonds and 5.4eV photon energy absorption peak corresponding to the carbonyl groups. FTIR showed peaks related to hydroxyl groups, hydrogen-bonded OH groups of COOH, and functional groups such as C-OH (1375 cm-1), and C-O (1039 cm-1). FTIR results approved that graphene oxide nanosheets are functionalized. TEM images show that the synthesized graphene oxide is single-, double-, and multi-layer stacks with an amount of impurities.