Environmentally friendly approaches toward the mass production of processable graphene from graphite oxide

Abstract

Graphene has attracted a great deal of scientific interest in latter years owing to its unique properties, with many prospective applications being actively investigated at present. However, the actual implementation of graphene in technological uses will depend critically on the development of appropriate methodologies for its mass production. In this regard, one of the most promising approaches is based on the exfoliation and reduction of graphite oxide. Graphenes derived from graphite oxide can be prepared at low cost and high throughput, can be further processed in a number of solvents, and are chemically versatile, among other attractive features. In an environment-conscious world, the availability of green approaches toward graphene production would also constitute an added advantage. During the last year, different environmentally friendly methods for the production of graphene from graphite oxide have emerged, which we highlight here. These are based on solvothermal and electrochemical processes, as well as on the use of green reductants. Several open questions and possible future directions for this research topic are also discussed. L: GuardiaLaura Guardia graduated in Chemistry from University of Buenos Aires (Argentina) and received a PhD degree from the University of Oviedo on molecular recognition of antibiotics. Currently, she is a post-doctoral researcher at INCAR, working on the synthesis and applications of graphene.

Insight into the biosensing of graphene oxide: Present and future prospects

“…Typically, the chemical reduction of GO route involves the use of reducing agents such as hydrazine (Peng et al, 2011;Zhu et al, 2009), dimethylhydrazine , metal hydrazides (Shin et al, 2009;Chua and Pumera, 2013) and hydroquinone . The excessive use of reducing agents could contaminate the resulting product (Guo et al, 2009) and even harmful to human health and the environment (Paredes et al, 2011).…”

Accelerated differentiation of neural stem cells into neurons on ginseng-reduced graphene oxide sheets

“…For example, some environment-friendly methods such as flash photo reduction [42], hydrothermal dehydration [43], solvothermal reduction [44], catalytic [45] and photocatalytic [464 reductions were proposed recently for reduction of GO (see also a review by Paredes et al. [50] in this regard). Meanwhile, substitution of the toxic reducing agents (such as hydrazine) by some biocompatible reductants including vitamin C [51], melatonin [52,53], sugar [54], glucose [55], polyphenols of green tea [56,57], protein bovine serum albumin (BSA) [58], and even bacteria [59,60] was also suggested for the GO reduction.…”

Reduced Graphene Oxide Nanosheets Decorated with Au Nanoparticles as an Effective Bactericide: Investigation of Biocompatibility and Leakage of Sugars and Proteins

“…Recently, ascorbic acid has drawn the special attention of researchers as an ecofriendly alternative to toxic reducing agents. [15,16] In this regard, we have employed ascorbic acid as an ecofriendly reducing agent for the synthesis of gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) on rGO nanosheets through an in situ solution chemistry approach under ultrasonication. Au NPs were chosen in this study because of their potential uses in various areas of chemistry, biology, catalysis, medicine, and nanotechnology.…”