What is the Difference Between Graphene and Graphene Oxide

The key difference between graphene and graphene oxide is that graphene is a substance made of carbon atoms bonded to each other in a repeating pattern of hexagons, whereas graphene oxide is an oxidized form of graphene that is laced with groups having oxygen atoms.

Graphene can be described as an allotrope of carbon that exists in two-dimensional sheets form. Graphene oxide is a monomolecular sheet from graphite oxide. In this article, we will be comparing graphene with graphene oxide.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Graphene  
3. What is Graphene Oxide
4. Graphene vs Graphene Oxide in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Graphene vs Graphene Oxide 

What is Graphene?

Graphene is an allotrope of carbon that exists in two-dimensional sheets form, which is named as “two-dimensional hexagonal lattice.” Graphene is usually an infinitely large aromatic molecule. We can use different pathways to produce graphene. Some of these include mechanical methods, splitting monolayer carbon, chemical methods, chemical vapour deposition, carbon dioxide reduction, a supersonic spray method, laser method, ion implantation, and CMOS-compatible graphene production.

Graphene has a unique set of properties. It has a strong structure compared to its thickness, and its strength is stronger even than steel. Other properties include the ability to conduct heat and electricity efficiently, the ability to burn at very low temperatures, near transparency, the complicated structure of graphene structure, and nonlinear diamagnetism. Furthermore, this substance has large quantum oscillations. The carbon atoms at the edges of the graphene sheet have specific chemical reactivity, and the defects that occur within its sheet structure can enhance the chemical reactivity. Additionally, these graphene sheets tend to stack, forming a graphite structure.

Each atom in the graphene sheet connects with its three nearest neighbors through sigma chemical bonds and also contributes one of its electrons to the conduction band that exists between the whole sheet structure. This type of conduction band makes the graphene structure a semimetal having unusual electronic properties, which can be described using theories for massless relativistic particles.

There are different applications of graphene, which include using it as a transparent and flexible conductor that can play an important role in material/device applications (e.g. solar cells, light-emitting diodes, touch panels, and smart windows or phones).

What is Graphene Oxide?

Graphene oxide is a monomolecular sheet from graphite oxide. This material is very important because we can use it to produce graphene sheets in an effective yet inexpensive way. In this case, graphene oxide is an oxidized form of graphene. It has a single atomic layer, laced with oxygen-containing functional groups.

This material is dispersible in water and other solvents due to the presence of oxygen-functionalities. Hence, it is easy to process this material. Moreover, this property enables it to enhance the electrical and mechanical properties of ceramic when we mix the ceramic material with graphene oxide. However, it is not good for electrical conductivity. Hence, we categorize it as an electrical insulator. This is mainly due to the disruption of sp2 bonding networks present in graphite. But there are some processes that we can use to augment its properties.

Moreover, there are four major methods that manufacturers use to make this compound. They are Staudenmaier, Hofmann, Brodie, and Hummers method. These techniques have various differences between them.

What is the Difference Between Graphene and Graphene Oxide?

Graphene can be described as an allotrope of carbon that exists in two-dimensional sheets form. Graphene oxide is a monomolecular sheet from graphite oxide. The key difference between graphene and graphene oxide is that graphene is a substance made of carbon atoms bonded to each other in a repeating pattern of hexagons, whereas graphene oxide is an oxidized form of graphene that is laced with groups having oxygen atoms.

The below infographic presents the differences between graphene and graphene oxide in tabular form for side by side comparison.

Summary – Graphene vs Graphene Oxide

The key difference between graphene and graphene oxide is that graphene is a substance made of carbon atoms bonded to each other in a repeating pattern of hexagons, whereas graphene oxide is an oxidized form of graphene that is laced with groups having oxygen atoms.

Reference:

1. “Graphene – What Is It?” Graphenea.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Graphen” By AlexanderAlUS – Own work (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Graphene oxide in water” By Leiem – Own work (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia