Graphene is an ultra-thin material, which has received broad interest in many areas of science and technology because of its unique physical, chemical, mechanical and thermal properties.

A one-step, novel, easy, fast, facile, economic, and environmental friendly route to reduce graphene oxide (GO) is studied and explained in this study. The household baking soda (sodium bicarbonate/NaHCO 3 ) was applied here as a reducing agent. In aqueous solution, NaHCO 3 hydrolyses into hydroxide ion and leads to deoxygenate GO sheets. The confirmation of oxygen reduction was checked with UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry and Raman spectroscopy. Thermal behavior of graphene was analyzed by Thermogravimetry analysis and Differential scanning calorimetry. Again, Atomic force microscopy, Scanning electron microscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscopy and Transmission electron microscopy were used for morphological study. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer was applied to analyze the elemental composition. The results of the above experiments demonstrate that the household baking soda is able to produce functional graphene, which can be a suitable replacement of hydrazine, sodium borohydrate or other toxic reducing agents. This method is high yielding and safe to use in biomaterial applications.

Graphene oxide (GO) is a derivative of graphene nanosheet which is the most promising material of the decade in biomedical research. In particular, it has been known as an antimicrobial nanomaterial with good biocompatibility. In this study, we have synthesized and characterize GO and checked its antimicrobial property against different Gram-negative and Gram-positive multidrug drug resistant (MDR) hospital superbugs grown in solid agar-based nutrient plates with and without human serum through the utilization of agar well diffusion method, live/dead fluorescent staining and genotoxicity analysis. No significant changes in antibacterial activity were found in these two different conditions. We also compare the bactericidal capability of GO with some commonly administered antibiotics and in all cases the degree of inhibition is found to be higher. The data presented here are novel and show that GO is an effective bactericidal agent against different superbugs and can be used as a future antibacterial agent.

In this research, Graphene oxide (GO), prepared by modified hammer method, is characterized using X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) Spectrometry and Raman spectra. The dispersion efficiency of GO in aqueous solution is examined by Ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and it is found that GO sheets are well dispersed. Thereafter, rheological properties, flow diameter, hardened density, compressive strength and electrical properties of GO based cement composite are investigated by incorporating 0.03% GO in cement matrix. The reasons for improvement in strength are also discussed. Rheological results confirm that GO influenced the flow behavior and enhanced the viscosity of the cement based system. From XRD and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) results, it is found that more hydration occurred when GO was incorporated in cement based composite. The GO based cement composite improves the compressive strength and density of mortar by 27% and 1.43%, respectively. Electrical properties results showed that GO-cement based composite possesses self-sensing characteristics. Hence, GO is a potential nano-reinforcement candidate and can be used as self-sensing sustainable construction material.

The Green Reduction of Graphene Oxide -[223 refs.]. -(AUNKOR, M. T. H.; MAHBUBUL*, I. M.; SAIDUR, R.; METSELAAR, H. S. C.; RSC Adv. 6 (2016) 33, 27807-27828, http://dx.