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Reduced Graphene Oxide for Advanced Energy Applications Sadhna Rai, Rabina Bhujel, Joydeep Biswas, and Bibhu Prasad Swain

Introduction With the advancement of human civilization, the need for energy generation and its conservation has become a major concern. The energy consumption has increased alarmingly, and day by day, the conventional sources of energy are depleting which possess a great threat to the civilization itself. In this regard, researches are working interminably to meet the energy demands of the society. There is a shift from fossil fuels to renewable source of energy mainly solar, wind, hydel and geothermal energies. But only the generation of energy is not enough to meet up with the energy demands. Therefore, development of energy storage devices in large scale is also important. Since graphene was discovered in 2004, it has been studied comprehensively for its applications in various fields. Graphene is a single sheet of carbon hexagons which can be used as the building foundations for other forms of carbon; for instance, it can be folded to give 0D fullerenes, rolled to form 1D carbon nanotubes and piled to present 3D graphene [1]. Graphene exhibits exceptional properties like excellent optical transparency, zero bandgap, high carrier mobility, mechanical strength and electrical conductivity. The reported values of charge mobility and electrical S. Rai (B) · R. Bhujel Centre for Materials Science and Nanotechnology, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim Manipal University, Majhitar, Rangpo, Sikkim 737136, India e-mail: [email protected] J. Biswas Department of Chemistry, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Technology, Sikkim Manipal University, Majhitar, Sikkim 737136, India B. P. Swain Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology, Manipur, Langol Rd, Imphal, Manipur 795004, India e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 B. P. Swain (ed.), Nanostructured Materials and their Applications, Materials Horizons: From Nature to Nanomaterials, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8307-0_6

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conductivity graphene is about 2 × 105 cm2 (Vs)−1 and 1 × 108 Sm−1 , respectively, which enables it to be used in different electronic devices [2]. It also possesses high specific area (2360 m2 g−1 ) which is typically valuable for energy storage devices, viz. lithium-ion batteries and supercapacitors [3]. Also, possessing excellent thermal conductivity (~5000 W/mK) makes it suitable for use in both energy-generating and storing devices [4]. The most studied graphene-based derivatives for these purposes are graphene oxide (GO) and reduced graphene oxide (rGO). Graphene oxide possesses 2-D structure and various oxygen functionalities such as hydroxyl, epoxy, carbonyl and carboxyl groups on its basal plane and on the edges. These functionalities make GO dispersible in water. GO is inexpensive, can be synthesized without any hassle and is easy