Graphene hydrogenation by molecular hydrogen in the process of graphene oxide thermal reduction

Thermal reduction in molecular hydrogen of the graphene oxide films has been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation. The restoration process was revealed to be accompanied by hydrogenation due to collisionally induced interaction of molecular hydrogen with carbon atoms. One side hydrogenated graphene films consisting of 20 mu m one monolayer flakes were fabricated on SiO2/Si surface with hydrogen concentration as far as 40 at. %, at which the 0.3 eV bandgap opening was observed. It was shown that both H-coverage and bandgap width of the films can be controlled by varying the temperature of the heat treatment. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4793484]