Boron-doped reduced graphene oxide with tunable bandgap and enhanced surface plasmon resonance

• Main Authors: Junaid, M., Khir, M.H.M., Witjaksono, G., Tansu, N., Saheed, M.S.M., Kumar, P., Ullah, Z., Yar, A., Usman, F.
• Format: Article
• Published: MDPI AG 2020
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85089538177&doi=10.3390%2fmolecules25163646&partnerID=40&md5=b9381ae3b2fb448d4d69abb95b136edd; http://eprints.utp.edu.my/30096/

Graphene and its hybrids are being employed as potential materials in light-sensing devices due to their high optical and electronic properties. However, the absence of a bandgap in graphene limits the realization of devices with high performance. In this work, a boron-doped reduced graphene oxide (B-rGO) is proposed to overcome the above problems. Boron doping enhances the conductivity of graphene oxide and creates several defect sites during the reduction process, which can play a vital role in achieving high-sensing performance of light-sensing devices. Initially, the B-rGO is synthesized using a modified microwave-assisted hydrothermal method and later analyzed using standard FESEM, FTIR, XPS, Raman, and XRD techniques. The content of boron in doped rGO was found to be 6.51 at.. The B-rGO showed a tunable optical bandgap from 2.91 to 3.05 eV in the visible spectrum with an electrical conductivity of 0.816 S/cm. The optical constants obtained from UV-Vis absorption spectra suggested an enhanced surface plasmon resonance (SPR) response for B-rGO in the theoretical study, which was further verified by experimental investigations. The B-rGO with tunable bandgap and enhanced SPR could open up the solution for future high-performance optoelectronic and sensing applications. © 2020 by the authors.