Microwave Irradiation Time Effect on Expandable Graphite for Graphene Oxide Synthesis

Graphene oxide was nowadays wildly investigated by scientists due to extraordinary properties of graphene and its derivatives. With rapid development of synthesising graphene oxide, there are still few issues to be discussed. This paper investigated the time effect of microwave irradiation on expanded graphite for further oxidation reaction. Expandable graphite was expanded by microwave irradiation. Microwave irradiation time of Os, 10s, 20s, 30s and 40s were compared confirming that with the time increasing, expansion ratio also increased. After 30s, the rising volume became inconspicuous. The graphene oxide was then oxidized by mixing 20s, 3 Os and 40s expanded graphite with potassium permanganate in concentrated sulfuric acid. No obvious change in chemistry structure under different irradiation time, while mean size of which grew from 20s to 30s and dropped slightly after another 10s. This paper investigated the time effect of microwave irradiation on expanded graphite for further oxidation reaction. The results gave the inspiration of industry producing graphene oxide with size and other properties controlle