Gamma Radiation Assisted Green Reduction of Graphene Oxide by Doum Palm (Hyphaene Thebaica) Fruit Powder

Due to the wide range of graphene applications, there is still a need for a simple, low-cost, and scalable graphene synthesis technique. This work describes a facile, cost-effective, and green method for reducing graphene oxide (GO) using doum palm (Hyphaene thebaica) fruit powder. This method is based on the radiolysis of GO solution containing doum powder under gamma-irradiation instead of alcohol essentially used in gamma- derived reduced GO. As a natural antioxidant, doum powder acts as a scavenger to oxidative species produced during irradiation. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) confirmed the removal of most oxygen functional groups from GO and conjugation between doum and derived reduced graphene oxide (DRRGO). From X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), the GO sharp peak disappeared and was replaced by a wide broad peak. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) outcomes revealed an increase in the (C/O) ratio in DRRGO compared to GO. Also, the C-C peak intensity ratio to the C-O peak intensity in the C1s region was increased from 0.58 in GO to 1.8 in DRRGO. The higher defect level of DRRGO compared to GO was deduced by Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, the reduction effect on GO morphology was studied by High-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The thermal stability of DRRGO was higher than that of GO, as revealed by Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). These findings illustrate that this method is promising for the eco-friendly and mass production of nanoscale bio-synthesized oxides conjugated to reduced GO for biological applications.