Statistical analysis of the reduction process of graphene oxide probed by Raman spectroscopy mapping

We propose a method for monitoring the large-scale homogeneity of the reduction process of graphene oxide. For this purpose, a Raman mapping technique is employed to probe the evolution of the phonon properties of two different graphene oxide (GO) thin films upon controllable thermal reduction. The reduction of GO is reflected by the upshift of the statistical distribution of the relative intensity ratio of the G and D peaks (I-D/I-G) of the Raman spectra and is consistent with the ratio obtained for chemically reduced GO. In addition, the shifts of the position distributions of the main Raman modes (omega(D), omega(G)) and their cross-correlation with the I-D/I-G ratio provides evidence of a change of the doping level, demonstrating the influence of reduction processes on GO films.