Ricerc@Sapienza

A combined experimental and theoretical investigation approach has been applied to the electrochemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) in order to unravel the corresponding reaction mechanism, so far scarcely addressed in the literature. Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) layers were prepared via electrochemical reduction of GO drop-casted onto hydrogenated Si(111) wafers in aqueous medium. A cyclic potential variation programme was applied at different scan rates, followed by an ex-situ characterization of the obtained rGO deposits by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).

Wafer-scale integration of reduced graphene oxide with H-terminated Si(1 1 1) surfaces has been accomplished by electrochemical reduction of a thin film of graphene oxide deposited onto Si by drop casting. Two reduction methods have been assayed and carried out in an acetonitrile solution. The initial deposit was subjected either to potential cycling in a 0.1 M TBAPF 6 /CH 3 CN solution at scan rates values of 20 mV s −1 and 50 mV s −1 , or to a potentiostatic polarization at E λ,c = −3 V for 450 s.

Integration of graphene on flexible and transparent supports, such as ITO/PET, represents a challenging goal for the realization of next-generation optoelectronic materials. In this context, reduced graphene oxide (rGO) results an elective material for its easy handling and wide range of possibilities for processing.