Preparation and characterization of graphene oxide nanosheets

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) has recently attracted great attention due to its unique chemical and physical properties. In this work, the GO nanosheets were prepared by a chemical exfoliation technique. The structural and optical properties of the as-prepared GO nanosheets were characterized by Raman, FTIR, UV-vis and photoluminescence spectroscopy. The FTIR results confirmed the existence of oxygen-containing groups on the GO nanosheets and the photoluminescence spectra of GO nanosheets showed the emission peak in the visible regions. These results indicate that the GO nanosheets could be used as a promising new material for biological applications such as biofunctionalization and fluorescence biosensors. © 2010 Published by Elsevier Ltd.