Vitamin C: friend or foe! A synopsis of ascorbic acid's reduction and oxidation of graphene oxide

Abstract

L-Ascorbic acid is being commonly used as a green reducing agent for graphene oxide. However, re-oxidation of reduced Graphene Oxide (rGO) was established when using a moderate to high concentration of L-ascorbic acid and/or long reduction time. This unexpected finding gives important direction about conditions to privilege to limit such re-oxidation.