Surface Area Measurement of Graphene Oxide in Aqueous Solutions

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) forms persistent dispersions in aqueous solutions up to concentrations of 0.2 mg mL(-1). Addition of methylene blue (MB) to these aqueous dispersion of GO gives rise to the observation in optical spectroscopy of new absorption bands that are indicative of the formation of MB/GO conjugates. Four new absorption maxima have been characterized, and their intensity varies depending on the relative concentration of MB with respect to GO. Two of these bands appearing at 677 and 757 nm correspond to individual MB molecules adsorbed on neutral or acid sites of GO, respectively. Two other bands at 615 and 580 nm are attributable to adsorbed MB molecules showing interaction with other neighbor dye molecules at incomplete (615 nm) or complete (580 nm) surface coverage. Complete coverage of GO surface by MB causes the formation of a precipitate and the separation of the MB/GO conjugate. EDS mapping of carbon and sulfur atoms of MB/GO conjugate indicates the homogeneous distribution of MB molecules coating GO sheets. A simple and reliable protocol for surface area measurement and determination of the level of aggregation for GO dispersions in water has been proposed by determining the amount of MB that leads to the maximum intensity of the 580 nm band and precipitation of the MB/GO conjugate. Specific surface area as high as 736.6 m(2) g(-1) in the range of the theoretical value for GO has been experimentally measured for diluted GO solutions, but aggregation levels of 15% were estimated for GO concentration of 50 μg mL(-1).

The effect of graphene oxide and its oxidized debris on the cure chemistry and interphase structure of epoxy nanocomposites

“…Estimated surface area of aGO is 719 m 2 /g as determined by methylene blue binding (Supporting Information, Fig. 5s) which is comparable to values reported in literature [12,41].…”

“…CasaXPS v 2.3.16 software was used to perform curve fitting and to calculate the atomic concentrations. The surface area of the aGO was estimated by the methylene blue (MB) method reported by Navajas et al [41] as detailed in Supporting Information.…”

Chemistry with Graphene and Graphene Oxide—Challenges for Synthetic Chemists

“…[119] These experiments suggest that the delamination efficiency should be taken into account for the interpretation of analytical data.…”

“…A) Illustration of GO (gray) with adsorbed methylene blue (blue) for the determination of the accessible surface area; the maximum surface area of GO is accessible at c(GO) < 35 mg mL À1 . [119] .…”

On‐the‐Spot Immobilization of Quantum Dots, Graphene Oxide, and Proteins via Hydrophobins

“…[ 21 ] As a highly oxidized derivate of graphite, it is easily processed in aqueous solutions [22][23][24][25] and synthesized in large quantity, [ 20,26 ] and it is applied in several biotechnological platforms. [ 27 ] The GO monolayer is also a high tunable nanomaterial given the lateral size [ 28 ] and the oxidation degree, [ 29 ] which are pivotal marks of the 2D carbon structure.…”