Synthesis of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide by needle platy natural vein graphite

[Display omitted] •The high purity of this form of needle platy natural vein graphite is expected to synthesize GO and rGO readily and efficiently, as compared to the synthetic and less pure graphite raw materials.•Production of large-scale GO and rGO for industrial applications can be achieved by using this highly crystalline NPG vein graphite, and it adds value to the natural resources.•High quality, few-layer, and cost effective GO and rGO can achieve great results using this low cost, natural graphite. Among natural graphite varieties, needle platy vein graphite (NPG) has very high purity. Therefore, it is readily used to prepare graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). In this study, GO and rGO were prepared using chemical oxidation and reduction process, respectively. The synthesized materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. XRD studies confirmed the increase of the interlayer spacing of GO and rGO in between 3.35 to 8.66A°. AFM studies showed the layer height of rGO to be 1.05nm after the reduction process. TEM micrographs clearly illustrated that the prepared GO has more than 25 layers, while the rGO has only less than 15 layers. Furthermore, the effect of chemical oxidation and reduction processes on surface morphology of graphite were clearly observed in FESEM micrographs. The calculated RO/C of GO and rGO using XPS analysis are 5.37% and 1.77%, respectively. The present study revealed the successful and cost effective nature of the chemical oxidation, and the reduction processes for the production of GO and rGO out of natural vein graphite.