A Two-Step Method for the Preparation of Highly Conductive Graphene Film and Its Gas-Sensing Property

In this research, a highly conductive graphene film was synthesized through the chemical reduction of graphene oxide (RGO) nanosheets followed by thermal treatment at 1100℃ (RGO-1100℃) under H2 ambient. The as-prepared graphene films were characterized by using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractions, raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and by electrical conductivity measurements. The results showed that the thermal treatment efficiently removed residual oxygen-containing functional groups on the surface of the RGO sheets and simultaneously restored the sp2 carbon networks in the graphene sheets. As a result, the electrical conductivity of RGO-1100℃ (~210 S/cm) film was greatly improved compared with that of RGO (~24 S/cm) and graphene oxide (4.2 × 10–4 S/m) films. In addition, the NO2 gas sensing characteristics of the as-prepared RGO films were studied. The results indicated that RGO films were highly responsive to NO2 at temperature of 200℃.