Ecofriendly hydrothermal
reduction of graphene oxide is widely
used for producing hydrogels and aerogels, but it yields partly reduced
graphene oxide (prGO) containing oxygen groups and some number of
paramagnetic centers (PCs). In order to identify structural changes
introduced by the reduction process, these PCs are studied by electron
spin echo spectroscopy in the temperature range of 5–160 K.
Two types of PCs with different spin–lattice (T
1) and phase memory (T
m) relaxation
times observed below 20 K result from a nonuniform distribution of
magnetic defects. Above 20 K, only the PCs with the shorter T
1 and T
m persist.
Temperature dependences of T
1 and the
distribution of T
1 for each type of the
PCs reveal lattice distortions around the PCs and structural disorder
in prGO. The unusually strong temperature dependence of the spin echo
intensity is explained by the localization of conduction electrons.
The localization is destroyed at high temperature, and exchange interactions
decrease the number of the observed PCs. Every such PC is created
by the sp
3 defect induced by hydrogen
covalently bonded to graphene. The obtained results indicate that
the hydrothermal reduction is accompanied by partial hydrogenation
of graphene. The presence of such hydrogen atoms is confirmed by infrared
spectroscopy.