Thermodynamic and Kinetic Analysis of Lowtemperature Thermal Reduction of Graphene Oxide

Abstract

Abstract The thermodynamic state and kinetic process of low-temperature deoxygenation reaction of graphene oxide (GO) have been investigated for better understanding on the reduction mechanism by using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetry-Mass Spectrometry (TG-MS), and X-ray Photo-electron Spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that the thermal reduction reaction of GO is exothermic with degassing of CO2, CO and H2O. Graphene is thermodynamically more stable than GO. The deoxygenation reaction of GO is kinetically controlled and the activation energy for GO is calculated to be 167kJ/mol (1.73 eV/atom).