Graphene Oxide (GO) is known to be an insulating material because of the presence of saturated sp 3 hybridized bonds. Thus, the need of Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGO) arises so as to recover the conductivity of the material, by the restoration of sp 2 hybridized bonds. In the present work, modified Hummers method has been used for the synthesis of GO followed by rapid thermal annealing for the formation of RGO at 850 °C in ambient environment for both sonicated and un-sonicated GO powder samples. FTIR spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and XRD were used to confirm the formation of RGO from GO. Further, the effect of sonication on GO was studied in detail using these characterization techniques both in powder and thin film forms. These analyses show various functional groups being eliminated and thus restoring the pi conjugated network in RGO. XRD results confirm the reduction of GO by rapid thermal annealing. Raman spectra show 2D band formation in addition to G to D band progression, showing the disorder and tangential bands. Thus, this facilitates the use of graphene and other graphene-based materials for larger applications.

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