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After long-term ageing, the structure of graphene oxide prepared by the modified Hummers method changed. Because of the desorption of oxygen-containing functional groups, the C/O ratio of graphene oxide increased from 1.96 to 2.76. However, the average interlayer distance decreased from 0.660 to 0.567 nm. The content of -CH- and -CH 2 - decreased; however, the type of oxygen-containing functional groups did not change. Moreover, I D / I G increased from 0.87 to 0.92, indicating that the defect density decreased because of desorbing oxygen functional groups after ageing. When the temperature exceeded 60°C, CO 2 produced by decomposing graphene oxide was detected. The thermal decomposition changed after ageing. The decomposition peak temperature decreased from 216°C to 195°C. The CO 2 amount produced remained almost unchanged; however, the amount of CO, SO 2 and H 2 O decreased. After ageing, the apparent activation energy of graphene oxide decreased from 150 to 134 kJ mol −1 .

Nanoscale potassium niobate (KNbO3) powders of orthorhombic structure were synthesized using the sol-gel method. The heat-treatment temperature of the gels had a pronounced effect on KNbO3 particle size and morphology. Field emission scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy were used to determine particle size and morphology. The average KNbO3 grain size was estimated to be less than 100 nm, and transmission electron microscopy images indicated that KNbO3 particles had a brick-like morphology. Synchrotron X-ray diffraction was used to identify the room-temperature structures using Rietveld refinement. The ferroelectric orthorhombic phase was retained even for particles smaller than 50 nm. The orthorhombic to tetragonal and tetragonal to cubic phase transitions of nanocrystalline KNbO3 were investigated using temperature-dependent powder X-ray diffraction. Differential scanning calorimetry was used to examine the temperature dependence of KNbO3 phase transition. The Curie temperature and phase transition were independent of particle size, and Rietveld analyses showed increasing distortions with decreasing particle size.