Facile synthesis of soluble graphene via a green reduction of graphene oxide in tea solution and its biocomposites

Abstract

The chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) typically involves highly toxic reducing agents that are harmful to human health and environment, and complicated surface modification is often needed to avoid aggregation of the reduced GO during reduction process. In this paper, a green and facile strategy is reported for the fabrication of soluble reduced GO. The proposed method is based on the reduction of exfoliated GO in green tea solution by making use of the reducing capability and the aromatic rings of tea polyphenol (TP) that contained in tea solution. The measurements of the resultant graphene confirm the efficient removal of the oxygen-containing groups in GO. The strong interactions between the reduced graphene and the aromatic TPs guarantee the good dispersion of the reduced graphene in both aqueous and a variety of organic solvents. These features endow this green approach with great potential in constructing of various graphene-based materials, especially for high-performance biorelated materials as demonstrated in this study of chitosan/graphene composites.