Enhanced heterogeneous electron transfer kinetics in Graphene Oxide produced from mechanically milled Graphite

Abstract

Controlled structural and chemical defects were induced on to graphene oxide (GO) by mechanical milling of the precursor graphitic sheets for different times followed by their chemical oxidation. Raman, XRD, FTIR, XPS and AFM measurements was carried out as an evidence to study the structural and chemical modifications. Milling induces in plane and edge plane defects on graphitic sheets which influence oxidation degree, sp3/sp2 hybridization and functional groups constitution on produced GO. The influence of these structural variations towards electrochemical heterogenous electron transfer (HET) kinetics was explored using redox probe potassium ferricyanide and through non-enzymatic electrochemical detection of Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2). The increased in-plane and edge plane functionalities actively enhanced the HET kinetics on GO and therefore it's the sensing ability significantly.