Green synthesis, characterization and potential application of reduced graphene oxide

Abstract This study investigates the structure and composition of graphene produced by thermal reduction of graphene oxide (GO) at various temperatures, for short time (5 min). The influence of reduction temperature on the structural properties of graphene was studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR), UV–Vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). We demonstrated that by controlling the temperature in the annealing process, we can design materials with desired composition to meet the necessities for future or existing applications. The synthesized materials proved to have great potential in the atenolol adsorption from wastewater at room temperature (61% removal efficiency after 30 min).