Properties of a granulated nitrogen-doped graphene oxide aerogel

Abstract At first, a granulated aerogel of graphene oxide was obtained, which was later reduced by hydrazine vapour. The reduced aerogel was characterized through elemental analysis, infrared (IR) and Raman spectroscopy, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), thermogravimetric analyses (TGA), voltammetry, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Furthermore, the reduced sample was found to contain approximately 3 wt.% of nitrogen, which was present in the aerogel in three states corresponding to the photoelectron peaks N1s with binding energies of 399.5, 401.3, and 403.6 eV. In the electroreduction of oxygen, an appreciable catalytic effect was observed for the sample under study, which resulted from reducing the overvoltage of the reaction by ~90 mV and changing the mechanism of reduction.