Thermodynamic and Kinetic Analysis of Lowtemperature Thermal Reduction of Graphene Oxide

The thermodynamic state and kinetic process of low-temperature deoxygenation reaction of graphene oxide (GO) have been investigated for better understanding on the reduction mechanism by using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Thermogravimetry-Mass Spectrometry (TG-MS), and X-ray Photo-electron Spectroscopy (XPS). It is found that the thermal reduction reaction of GO is exothermic with degassing of CO2, CO and H 2 O. Graphene is thermodynamically more stable than GO. The deoxygenation reaction of GO is kinetically controlled and the activation energy for GO is calculated to be 167kJ/mol (1.73 eV/atom).