Green and facile edge-oxidation of multi-layer graphene by sodium persulfate activated with ferrous ions

Lijing Han; Yingxia Zong; Qi Tang; Hairui Wang; Xiurui Lang; Lan Cao; Chengzhong Zong

doi:10.1039/d0ra05575a

Green and facile edge-oxidation of multi-layer graphene by sodium persulfate activated with ferrous ions

RSC Adv. 2020 Aug 20;10(51):30716-30722. doi: 10.1039/d0ra05575a. eCollection 2020 Aug 17.

Authors

Lijing Han¹, Yingxia Zong², Qi Tang¹, Hairui Wang¹, Xiurui Lang¹, Lan Cao¹, Chengzhong Zong¹

Affiliations

¹ School of Polymer Science and Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao 266042 China polymer@qust.edu.cn.
² College of Chemical and Molecular Engineering, Qingdao University of Science and Technology Qingdao 266042 China.

Abstract

Effective edge oxidation of graphene with high structural integrity is highly desirable yet technically challenging for most practical applications. In this work, we have developed a green and facile strategy to obtain edge-oxidized graphene with good dispersion stability and high electrical conductivity by exploiting high edge reactivity of highly conductive multi-layer graphene and oxidizing radicals (SO₄ ^-˙) generated from sodium persulfate (Na₂S₂O₈) with ferrous ion (Fe²⁺) activation. Owing to high structural integrity of pristine graphene and effective edge oxidation, the obtained edge-oxidized graphene exhibited excellent dispersion stability and satisfactory electrical conductivity (i.e. ≥240 S cm^-1). Moreover, the oxidation degree of pristine graphene can be well controlled by adjusting treatment time. The obtained edge-oxidized graphene is expected to find a variety of applications in many fields of anti-static films, energy storage materials, flexible sensors and high-performance nanocomposites.