Reduction dependent wetting properties of graphene oxide

This study reports contact angle measurements of standard, diol and aromatic solvents on graphene oxide thin films thermally reduced in ultra-high vacuum up to 900 °C. The films were chemically and morphologically characterized using respectively X-ray photoemission spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. The characterization shows that the wetting occurs in the chemically heterogeneous regime, namely the surface roughness (3 nm) does not influence the wetting properties of the samples. Zisman, Owens–Wendt and Neumann methods have been applied in order to calculate the surface free energy of the thin films showing that the Owens–Wendt method best fit the data trends. The surface free energy varies from 51 mN/m (pristine graphene oxide) to 39 mN/m (900 °C reduced graphene oxide). A correlation between the surface chemical composition, the surface free energy and its polar and dispersive components is reported, giving a rationale to the wetting properties of graphene oxide and reduced graphene oxide.