Optical properties of reduced graphene oxide sheets

Abstract

In this paper, we are investigating the Raman and photoluminescence properties of reduced graphene oxide sheets (rGO). Moreover, graphene oxide (GO) sheets are synthesized using Hummer’s method and further reduced into graphene sheets using D-galactose. Both GO and rGO are characterized by UV-vis spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis. Raman analysis of rGO shows the restoration of graphitic domains in GO after re- duction. The photoluminescence of rGO showed emission in the UV region which is blue shifted along with luminescent quenching as compared to GO. This blue shift and quenching in photoluminescence arise due to the newly formed crystalline sp2 clusters in rGO which created percolation pathways between the sp2 clusters already present.