Rapid effective reduction by microwave-irradiated thermal reaction for large-scale production of high-quality reduced graphene oxide

In this study, we suggest a simple and effective one-pot hybrid reduction process for the mass production of high-quality reduced graphene oxide (rGO) by simultaneously doing deoxygenation and healing reactions. During the microwave-irradiated thermal reduction, intercalated benzene in the GO easily generates acetylene by pyrolysis; the released acetylene react with surrounding defect sites in the GO surface to successfully form new C–C bonds. As a result of the newly formed sp²-hybridized C–C bond in the rGO surface, the defect-repaired rGO (rGO-B) shows remarkably enhanced crystallinity (I_D/I_G ratio: rGO-B, 0.63; rGO-T, 1.08), thermal stability, and electrical properties over that of rGO prepared without a carbon-source supplement (rGO-T). Especially, compared to the rGO-T, the rGO-B had 4.4 times more carrier density and 18 times increased carrier mobility because of the restoration of defect sites in the rGO-B surface. The rGO-B exhibited six times higher electrical conductivity than did rGO-T because of the improved carrier mobility. These results obviously suggest that the reduction of GO by means of microwave-irradiated thermal reduction with a carbon-source supplement could be a powerful approach for commercial mass production of high-quality rGO because of its easy manufacturing approach.