Facile and scalable one step method for amination of graphene using Leuckart Reaction

Abstract

A very simple method of reductive amination, based on the Leuckart reaction, is reported. This method enables not only the reduction of graphite oxide but also results in reduced graphene oxide functionalized with amine groups, where the amination degree is 3.2 at. % as determined by XPS. The dominant nitrogen functional group was primary amine, but pyridines and lactam groups were also observed. It was found that the amino-functionalized reduced graphene oxide is a semi-metallic material because of the lack of band gap, unlike the graphite oxide that presented a band gap of 2.16 eV.