Comparative study of graphene and reduced graphene oxide: synthesis, characterization, and electrical conductivity

A lot of interest has been focused on carbon allotropes, especially graphene and reduced graphene oxide. This is due to their outstanding electrical and mechanical properties, which enable their use in many electronic applications. In this work, graphene and reduced graphene oxide (RGO) samples were prepared by different techniques. Graphene was prepared by a physical sputtering method, whereas RGO was prepared by the improved Hummer’s chemical method followed by chemical reduction. The prepared samples were characterized using Raman, X-ray diffraction, and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy techniques. The graphene and RGO samples were qualified and compared to similar published works. A comparable quality factor value as high as 0.63 was obtained for the graphene compared to 0.09 for the RGO. The electrical conductivity of both graphene and RGO samples was also calculated from the I–V curves. A relatively high electrical conductivity of 153 S/cm was obtained for the graphene sample compared to 1.3 × 10–4 S/cm for the RGO sample. Graphene thin film shows higher electric conductivity relative to RGO thin film, which is in agreement with the proposed quality factor results.