Green reduction of graphene oxide using phytochemicals extracted from Pomelo Grandis and Tamarindus indica and its supercapacitor applications

Green synthesis method is an effective approach for reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and the surface tuning of graphene nanosheets. In this work, facile green approach for the reduction of graphene oxide was adopted by utilizing phytochemical extracts of Citrus grandis (Pomelo) and Tamarindus indica (Tamarind). FTIR analysis showed significant reduction/elimination of the peaks that corresponds to the oxygen containing groups. XRD and Raman analysis confirmed the successful reduction of GO after treating with fruit extracts. The morphological analysis by SEM and TEM images further confirmed the formation of graphene nanosheets. The conductivity of both Pomelo-rGO (P-rGO) and Tamarind-rGO (T-rGO) were found to be 104-folds higher than that of GO. The electrochemical characterization of the synthesized rGO was done by cyclic voltammetry (CV). Specific capacitance of 65.25 F/g and 47.33 F/g were recorded for T-rGO and P-rGO, respectively. The results showed that this green synthesis route is promising for the large-scale production of rGO.