Fast reduction of electron-beam-activated graphene oxide by an infrared laser pulse
Abstract
Rapid and controllable reduction of graphene oxide (GO) remains a critical challenge for realizing its full technological potential. Here, we report the reduction of GO by a synergistic electron-beam-assisted single-pulse near-infrared (NIR) laser process. We find that the efficiency of 1064-nm laser photoreduction can be dramatically enhanced by prior exposure of the sample to a high-energy electron beam. Time-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy measured with a dynamic transmission electron microscope (DTEM) is used to quantitatively track the oxygen concentration evolution after subsequent NIR laser pulse irradiation. This finds an oxygen diffusivity for the process of 1.4 +/- 0.3 x 10−9 m2/s, which suggests oxygen is released by diffusion through defects and imperfections in the film. Electron beam irradiation is found to change the optical absorptivity of GO in the NIR region, and COMSOL simulations are carried out to estimate the thermal heating cycle resulting from the laser pulse. Structural characterization via selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) find localized restoration of sp2 bonding accompanied by turbostratic disorder in the reduced GO. Together, these results point to a mechanism involving the creation of defects and vacancies produced by electron beam irradiation, which increases the efficiency of NIR light absorption and oxygen diffusion normal to the layers. This study demonstrates the important role of such defects in controlling the photochemistry of GO and its photoreduction kinetics.
Versions
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BibTeX
@misc{ali2026fast,
title = {{Fast reduction of electron-beam-activated graphene oxide by an infrared laser pulse}},
author = {Israt Ali and Hilaire Mba and Matthieu Picher and Shruti Verma and Florian Banhart and Kenneth R. Beyerlein},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.01125},
eprint = {2605.01125},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01125},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Fast reduction of electron-beam-activated graphene oxide by an infrared laser pulse
AU - Israt Ali
AU - Hilaire Mba
AU - Matthieu Picher
AU - Shruti Verma
AU - Florian Banhart
AU - Kenneth R. Beyerlein
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.01125
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01125
AB - Rapid and controllable reduction of graphene oxide (GO) remains a critical challenge for realizing its full technological potential. Here, we report the reduction of GO by a synergistic electron-beam-assisted single-pulse near-infrared (NIR) laser process. We find that the efficiency of 1064-nm laser photoreduction can be dramatically enhanced by prior exposure of the sample to a high-energy electron beam. Time-resolved electron energy-loss spectroscopy measured with a dynamic transmission electron microscope (DTEM) is used to quantitatively track the oxygen concentration evolution after subsequent NIR laser pulse irradiation. This finds an oxygen diffusivity for the process of 1.4 +/- 0.3 x 10^−9 m^2/s, which suggests oxygen is released by diffusion through defects and imperfections in the film. Electron beam irradiation is found to change the optical absorptivity of GO in the NIR region, and COMSOL simulations are carried out to estimate the thermal heating cycle resulting from the laser pulse. Structural characterization via selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) find localized restoration of sp^2 bonding accompanied by turbostratic disorder in the reduced GO. Together, these results point to a mechanism involving the creation of defects and vacancies produced by electron beam irradiation, which increases the efficiency of NIR light absorption and oxygen diffusion normal to the layers. This study demonstrates the important role of such defects in controlling the photochemistry of GO and its photoreduction kinetics.
ER -