Explosive Reduction of Graphite Oxide

In this work, the composition of formed products and the dynamics of decomposition related to thermal explosion and at temperatures that are stepwise increased have been experimentally studied for graphite oxide. The gaseous products formed in the explosive and stepwise thermal reduction of graphite oxide within a range from 20 to 1000°C have been determined and quantitatively characterized. The presented data have shown that the oxygen-containing groups of graphite oxide are generally decomposed in three temperature regions of 170–250, 500–600, and 750–1000°C. It has been demonstrated that the atomic ratio C: O in the end product, from around 2 in the initial graphite oxide, grows to 8 after explosion. Temperature estimates for such explosions are given for the first time. It has been revealed and substantiated that the explosive reduction of graphite oxide completely confirms the self-ignition theory of N.N. Semenov.