Open AccessFacile sonication‐assisted synthesis and characterisations of silica decorated graphene nanocomposites
Author(s) -
Varghese Rintu,
Christo Anitha Dhivya,
Henry Joy Prabu,
Irudayaraj Johnson
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
micro and nano letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.25
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1750-0443
DOI - 10.1049/mnl.2017.0656
Subject(s) - graphene , materials science , tetraethyl orthosilicate , nanocomposite , raman spectroscopy , scanning electron microscope , chemical engineering , nanomaterials , transmission electron microscopy , sonication , nanoparticle , oxide , nanotechnology , composite number , composite material , metallurgy , engineering , physics , optics
This work demonstrates the fabrication of a composite nanomaterial consisting of spherical silica nanoparticles decorated onto the graphene sheets which has been prepared by the sonication‐assisted method. Graphene/silica nanocomposites were fabricated by the hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate in the presence of graphene oxide which has been obtained by modified Hummer's method. The obtained nanostructures were characterised by the X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The XRD analysis depicts the coexistence of silica and graphene in the composite material. The morphology of synthesised silica–graphene nanocomposites was characterised by SEM and TEM. All images have been observed in the presence of SiO 2 nanoparticles of similar sizes which were grafted on the surface of graphene effectively. More significantly, the BET analysis revealed that the silica decorated graphene nanocomposites exhibit enhanced surface area than bare silica and graphene.