Title

Temperature Programmed Desorption of Graphene Oxide Under Ultra-High Vacuum

Document Type

Thesis

Comments


Presented to the Graduate Council of Texas State University-San Marcos in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science, December 2008.
Committee Members Approved:
Dr. Carl A. Ventrice Jr., Chair
Dr. Gregory F. Spencer
Nikoleta Theodoropoulou
Approved:
J. Michael Willoughby, Dean of the Graduate College

Abstract

Graphene oxide is an electrical insulator that shows potential for use in nanoscale electronic devices. An understanding of the thermal stability of graphene oxide sheets is important since the electrical, chemical, and mechanical properties of graphene oxide will change as it is reduced at elevated temperatures. In this study, graphene oxide films were grown by deposition of an aqueous solution of graphene oxide onto oxygen plasma cleaned silicon nitride on silicon substrates. The thermal stability of these films was studied by temperature programmed desorption under ultra-high vacuum conditions. The primary decomposition components of the films are H2O, CO2, and CO