Harvesting graphene oxide – years 1859 to 2019: a review of its structure, synthesis, properties and exfoliation

Abstract

In recent years, multilayered graphite oxide and graphene oxide (GO) have attracted considerable attention in fields such as physics, chemistry, biology and materials sciences in general, because they are important building blocks and promising routes towards the large-scale production of graphene, the “wonder material”. This review provides an exhaustive survey of the synthetic methods developed during the last 160 years for the preparation of GO and focuses especially on the work done more recently. The numerous state-of-the-art synthetic methods (>50) are reviewed and regrouped under eight (8) major categories: those which use oxidative (i) chemical, (ii) electrochemical and (iii) microbial exfoliation methods for graphite, for (iv) 3D-carbon structures and for (v) 2D-graphene. Other routes such as (vi) chemical vapor deposition (CVD) methods for hydrocarbon, (vii) hydrothermal methods for carbohydrate and finally, (viii) thermal decomposition methods for organic matter rich in carbon are also covered. Emphasis is placed on the molecular structure of graphene oxide, synthetic methods, impurities, properties, mechanistic insights, reagents, different carbon precursors, its purification, the exfoliation process and finally, its fractionation by size. This review will be a valuable guide (>200 references) for synthetic and materials scientists/engineers in the field of graphene oxide production.