ISSN print edition: 0366-6352 ISSN electronic edition: 1336-9075 Registr. No.: MK SR 9/7 Published monthly

Comparison of direct reduction methods of GO paper for production of flexible and electroactive rGO paper

Merve Keklik and Murat Alanyalıoğlu

Department of Biotechnology, Graduate School, Bilecik Şeyh Edebali University, Bilecik, Turkey

E-mail: murat.alanyalioglu@bilecik.edu.tr

Received: 20 November 2025  Accepted: 30 January 2026

Abstract:

Reduced graphene oxide papers (RGOPs) are attractive, free-standing electrodes for electrochemical applications because they combine mechanical flexibility with high electrical conductivity and accessible surface area. Although the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) in dispersion has been widely studied, direct reduction of preformed graphene oxide paper (GOP) remains comparatively underexplored despite its practical advantages. Here, GOP was fabricated via a low-cost mold-casting approach and directly reduced using chemical, thermal, flame, hydrothermal, and green routes. The electrochemical activity of the resulting RGOPs was benchmarked by cyclic voltammetry (CV) using the Fe(CN)₆^3−/4− redox couple. The highest activity was obtained for a paper chemically reduced in a KI/HCl medium and subsequently annealed at 200 °C for 90 min (RGOP_KI+ther). RGOP_KI+ther remained highly flexible and mechanically durable and exhibited stable electrochemical responses in acidic, neutral, and alkaline media, highlighting its potential as a binder-free platform for energy-storage and electrochemical sensing studies.

Keywords: rGO paper; Flexible electrode; Direct reduction; Electrochemical activity

Full paper is available at www.springerlink.com.

DOI: 10.1007/s11696-026-04709-5

Chemical Papers 80 (5) 5275–5284 (2026)