Reduction of graphene oxide by thiourea.

Various compounds with sulfur or diamine structure have been served as efficient reducing agents to convert graphene oxide to reduced graphene oxide. In this work, we used thiourea with both sulfur and diamine structure to synthesize reduced graphene oxide by the general wet chemical reduction method. The effective deoxygenation of graphene oxide was confirmed by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis and Raman spectroscopy. The as-prepared reduced graphene oxide is consisted of few-layered (no more than seven) and over 60% single-layered graphene sheet determined by atomic force microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. It also exhibits good dispersion in organic solvents such as ethanol and N,N-dimethylformamide, which is useful for the further modification of graphene and preparation of novel nanocomposites. This newly found reducing agent is of low toxicity and nonvolatile, which makes the reduction much safer.