Reconstruction of the carbon sp2 network in graphene oxide by low-temperature reaction with CO

Low-temperature (-176 degrees C) CO adsorption on graphene oxide and partially reduced graphene oxide sheets was investigated in a combined IR spectroscopic and DFT study. The reactivity of the carbon vacancies in the network was observed to be extremely high, causing the CO molecules to dissociate in a barrier-less process that leads to the reconstruction of the sp(2) graphene network. After the adsorption of CO on the graphene oxide materials, the intensity of the FTIR bands is lower in the case of partially reduced graphene oxide sheets, indicating that there are fewer active sites available for CO interaction.