Magnetization of Ultraviolet-Reduced Graphene Oxide Flakes in Composites Based on Polystyrene

Materials (Basel). 2021 May 12;14(10):2519. doi: 10.3390/ma14102519.

Abstract

This work presents our study results of the magnetization of multilayer UV-reduced graphene oxide (UV-rGO), polymer matrix (polystyrene), and a conjugated composite based on them. The mesoscopic structure of the composites synthesized in this work was studied by such methods as X-ray diffraction, SEM, as well as NMR-, IR- and Raman spectroscopy. The magnetization of the composites under investigation and their components was measured using a vibrating-sample magnetometer. It has been shown that the UV-reduction process leads to the formation of many submicron holes distributed inside rGO flakes, which can create edge defects, causing possibly magnetic order in the graphite samples under investigation on the mesoscopic level. This article provides an alternative explanation for the ferromagnetic hysteresis loop in UV-rGO on the base of superconductivity type-II.

Keywords: graphene-based materials; magnetic properties; polymer-twisted graphene layers; superconductivity; ultraviolet-holed graphene nanosheets.