Characterization and Synthesis of Graphite, Graphene Oxide, and Reduced Graphene Oxide Powder from Waste Dry Cell Battery Rod

In this paper, graphite, graphene oxide, and reduced graphene powders were successfully synthesized from waste dry cell batter through successive chemical solution methods. Graphite powder was extracted from the graphite electrode of waste batteries rod by acidic chemical treatment. The obtained powder was utilized as a precursor for synthesizing graphene oxide following the new modified Tour method. Eventually, reduced graphene oxide was prepared from the chemical reduction of graphene oxide (GO) by hydrazine hydrate treatment. The obtained recycled graphite, reduced graphene oxide (rGO), and GO materials have been characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence (PL), and Raman spectroscopy effectively. All the above characterization results confirmed that graphite shows a strong peak at a diffraction angle of 26.5°, corresponding to the (002) plane, shifted to a lower angle of 25.2° in the case of rGO. In addition, the unsmooth graphite sheet shifted to smooth and flake-like shape of the rGO’s surface morphology. The composite result revealed that different amounts of oxygen and carbon atoms are present in rG, GO and rGO. All the experimental findings ultimately launch the successful formation of exfoliated rGO and better synthesis approach was achieved.