Fabrication of Hydroxyl-Group-Rich Reduced Graphene Oxide Film and its Application for Electrochemical Detection of Hydrogen Peroxide

Graphene oxide (GO) can be obtained economically from graphite, and it has, therefore, been used for energy storage, conversion, and biosensor fabrication. To overcome the limitations associated with the poor electrical conductivity of GO, mild thermal reduction is widely used. However, owing to considerable variations in GO in terms of size and shape, uniform reduction of GO films is highly challenging. Herein, it reports a mildly reduced uniform graphene oxide thin film (mrUG) that is enriched with functional hydroxyl groups. This film is effective for electrochemical H₂O₂ decomposition and detection. A uniform graphene oxide thin film (UGTF) is first fabricated on an indium tin oxide (ITO) substrate and subjected to mild thermal annealing at 300 °C. Remarkably, the variations in all important parameters, including film thickness, surface roughness, reduction level, are significantly low in the case of mrUG. Moreover, It is found that unlike GO, UGTF undergoes structural rearrangement easily and possesses many hydroxyl groups (─OH) when reduced for a specific duration (t = 10 s, mrUG(10)). mrUG(10) is highly stable and effectively decomposed H₂O₂, which is advantageous for the electrochemical detection of H₂O₂ with extremely low signal variations. Therefore, mrUG(10) can be used as a carbon-based metal-free electrocatalyst in biosensors, energy, and electronic applications.