Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2015, Vol. 31 ›› Issue (3): 457-466.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201501093

• ELECTROCHEMISTRY AND NEW ENERGY • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Photoelectric Properties of Graphene Oxide Film Prepared with the Electrochemical Method Using Varying Levels of Reduction

LI Wen-You1, HE Yun-Qiu1,2, LI Yi-Ming1   

  1. 1. School of Material Science and Engineering, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P. R. China;
    2. Key Laboratry of Advanced Civil Engineering Materials of Ministry of Education, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, P. R. China
  • Received:2014-10-30 Revised:2015-01-08 Published:2015-03-06
  • Contact: HE Yun-Qiu E-mail:heyunqiu@tongji.edu.cn
  • Supported by:

    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51172162).

Abstract:

This article details a quick and simple method to prepare graphene oxide (GO) film and tune its energy level by adjusting the oxygen content. GO films with different layers were fabricated on fluorine-doped SnO2 (FTO) conductive glass using the anodic electrophoretic deposition process. The degree of oxidation was regulated by cathodic electrochemical reduction. The as-prepared GO films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), ultraviolet-visible absorption (UV-Vis) spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectra (XPS), Raman spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis. The number of GO layers was varied between 77 and 570 by controlling the electrophoretic deposition time (from 20 to 350 s). Changing the degree of oxidation caused the optical gap of GO to vary between 1.0 and 2.7 eV, and also impacted the edge of the conduction band and the Fermi energy for the sample. As a p-type semiconductor, a p-n junction can be formed between reduced GO and FTO. Under simulated sunlight irradiance of 100 mW·cm-2, the GO film with a deposition time of 300 s and reduction time of 120 s produced the highest photocurrent density of 5.25×10-8 A·cm-2.

Key words: Graphene oxide, Electrochemistry, Film, Energy level, Photocurrent density