Facile Synthesis of Lycopene Reduced Graphene Oxide in Different Solvent Polarity

Abstract

Graphene is a two-dimensional carbon which has many applications. Due to high utilities of graphene, the synthetic procedures should be developed to increase its production. The synthesis of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) using lycopene were carried out in the presence of polar and non-polar solvent. The lycopene was extracted from watermelon by solid-liquid extractionusing n-hexane/acetone/ethanol in 2:1:1 (v/v/v) and gave 5 mg/g of watermelon. The reduction of GO was performed by dissolved 100 mg of GO in 50 mL deionized water followed by sonication for 120 min, then added with 15 mL of 37 mM lycopene, reflux for 3-24 h in hexane/water and acetone/water in 3:10 (v/v) ratio, respectively. The result showed that the reaction using acetone/water in 3 h produce rGO. Replacing the solvent into hexane/water and reacted for 24 h produce rGO with similar characteristic. FT-IR analyses showed typical absorption of C = C alkenes at 1651 cm-1. The XRD showed 2-tetha at 21.5° that indicate a typical peak of rGO. The UV-Vis analysis revealed a maximum wavelength that shifted from 231-271 nm. All characteristic of the synthesized rGO showed that lycopene can be used as natural reductor for rGO synthesis.