Recent Advances in Green, Safe, and Fast Production of Graphene Oxide via Electrochemical Approaches

There has been extensive interest in developing a highly efficient production route toward graphene oxide (GO). Although the conventional chemical oxidation is widely used to synthesize GO, it suffers from some intrinsic issues such as long reaction time, explosion risk, and environmental pollution. Recent explorations of the electrochemical approaches have led to a breakthrough for GO synthesis, namely, the green and safe mass production of high-quality GO within hours. In this article, the principles of electrochemical synthesis of GO are revealed, and the recent advances are summarized in terms of the one-pot reaction and the two-step process with a focus on the quality and quantity of products. Moreover, the challenges and future research directions associated with the electrochemical production of high-quality GO are outlined.