Preparation of fluorinated graphene oxide with different oxygen content and its superhydrophobic property

Fluorinated graphene oxide (FGO) with high fluorine content is a suitable alternative for superhydrophobic materials due to the existence of the C–F bond. In this paper, we demonstrate a facile, large-scale method for the preparation of FGO with higher oxygen content and fluorine content by adopting proper oxidants and solvent to oxidize commercial graphite fluoride (GIF) on the basis of modified Hummers' method. Chemical composition, morphology and hydrophobicity are characterized by FT-IR, XPS, TGA, TEM and contact angle (CA) test respectively. The results indicate that the increase in oxygen content is accompanied by a decrease in fluorine content and FGO fabricated by using KMnO4 and the mixture of CH3COOH: H2SO4 with a volume ratio of 3:1 owns higher O/C and F/C ratio and superhydrophobicity. The oxidation mechanism is speculated that fluorine atom detaches from GiF in a strong oxidation environment, resulting in the restoration of sp2 C=C bond partly, and then sp2 C=C bond could be oxidized by KMnO4 or K2FeO4 efficiently. More oxygen groups broaden the applications of FGO as hydrophobic materials.