Lateral size reduction of graphene oxide preserving its electronic properties and chemical functionality

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) is widely considered as a graphene precursor when chemically reduced. Nevertheless, through the precise control of two parameters: lateral size and oxidation degree, GO can be useful in many applications as modified graphene oxide or functional reduced graphene oxide. Commonly, the decrease in GO lateral size, involves a change in the C/O ratio and therefore a modification in a large number of characteristics. Here, a simple but effective approach to synthesize GO with lateral dimensions below 100 nm and without modification of its chemical, optical and electronic features is presented. The use of a sonifier at low temperature allows to rapidly reduce the lateral size in ∼82% while preserving the C/O ratio and consequently the chemical stability, the band gap, the electronic energy levels and the functionality. This method will allow several applications from biomedicine to energy, where reliable reduced size of GO is required.