Kinetics of the thermal decomposition of thermally reduced graphene oxide treated with a pulsed high-frequency discharge in hydrogen atmosphere

Abstract

Thermal stability and the kinetics of thermal decomposition of the thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) treated by a pulsed high-frequency discharge in a hydrogen atmosphere have been studied. The modified Hummers method was used for obtaining the initial graphite oxide from graphite powder. Thermal exfoliation of the graphene oxide powder has been done in vacuum conditions with a heating rate of 5–7 degrees per minute to a temperature of 300 °С. TRGO has been treated by pulsed high-frequency discharge in a hydrogen atmosphere for partial graphene hydrogenation (chemical addition of atomic hydrogen) that leads to structural changes in the carbon planes and formation of C–H sp3 bonds. The thermogravimetry analysis measurements of the mass loss have been carried from room temperature to 1000 °C in a nitrogen atmosphere with a nitrogen flow rate of 20 mL/min and different heating rates: 50, 75 100, 125, 150, and 200 K/min, respectively. Kissinger’s multiple heating rate method has been used to determine the activation energy for decomposing substances. Activation energies Ea1, Ea2, and Ea3 equal 28, 50, and 148 kJ/mol, respectively, have been compared with the energies of the activation of thermal defunctionalization of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs). The activation energy Ea3 = 148 kJ/mol is close to that of the thermal decomposition of anhydride functional groups in MWCNT. The value of Ea2 = 50 kJ/mol indicates the presence of the keto and hydroxy acid’s function groups on TRGO. Activation energy Ea1 = 28 kJ/mol related with all other groups including the lighter C–H bonds that destructed due to dehydrogenation of the TRGO. Obtained experimental results are useful for further proposing the kinetic model of the mechanism of the most probable reaction of TRGO decomposition.