Study of electrical properties of a reduced graphene

This work reports the synthesis and characterisation of reduced graphene-1,3,4-oxadiazole-2-thiol (rGS) as a novel nanocompound derivative for graphene. The preparation was performed through a series of reactions starting from graphene oxide, followed by incorporation of different proportions of this nanocompound with poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), via non-covalent bonding, to afford the rGS/PVA polymer composites. The pure rGS compound, rGS/PVA composite films and pure PVA film were characterised by different techniques including infrared (Fourier transform infrared) spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and powder x-ray diffraction. The electrical properties of the composite films, involving dielectric constant, permittivity (ε′), imaginary permittivity (ε″), conductivity (σAC) and loss factor tan δ, were investigated. The measurements were performed at frequencies of (5kHz to 0.5 MHz) at room temperature. At low frequency, the dielectric permittivity (ε′) and imaginary permittivity (ε″) attained higher values in all cases, although with increasing frequency these values diminished rapidly. It was also found that the alternating current conductivity of the composites increased with increasing frequency