The effect of heating rate on porosity production during the low temperature reduction of graphite oxide

We studied the relationship between the thermal conditions and the evolution of the porosity in thermally reduced graphite oxide (TH-rGO) and found that the heating rate, rather than reduction temperature and atmospheric condition, played a crucial role in the evolution of porosity during the thermal reduction of GO at low temperatures. Higher heating rates increased the porosity of the TH-rGO. A slow heating rate facilitated the evolution of H2O and CO2 whereas a higher heating rate released CO2 and CO gases with the concurrent development of a folded and crumpled morphology. We further demonstrated that the higher heating rate resulted in a highly porous texture with lower reduction temperature (below 140 °C) and shorter reduction time (less than 5 min), indicating that the reduction time and temperature are found to be dependent on the heating rate.