Neutron scattering from graphene oxide paper and thermally exfoliated reduced graphene oxide

Abstract

Synthetic graphene oxide, in the form of graphene oxide paper (GOpp), and its reduction product– thermally exfoliated reduced graphene oxide (TErGO)– were studied by elastic and inelastic neutron scattering at low and room temperature conditions. The neutron diffraction patterns were analyzed to confirm stacking structures of both species consisting of 4– 6 and 8 layers of microsize lateral dimension and the interlayer distances of 7.21 Å and 3.36 Å, respectively. The one-phonon hydrogen amplitude-weighted density of vibrational states G( ) represents the inelastic incoherent neutron scattering spectra of the products. The study has revealed the retained water in the freshly made GOpp, corresponding to the lowest humidity. The analysis of the TErGO G( ) spectrum has disclosed the chemical composition of its circumference attributing the latter to sets of CH units with a minor presence of atomic oxygen.