▎ 摘　　要

A green, non-toxic and eco-friendly approach for the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets using natural beta-carotene is reported. The FTIR spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analyses reveal the oxygen scavenging property of beta-carotene successfully removes oxygen functionalities on GO nanosheets. Complete GO reduction is achieved within 16 h with 10 mM beta-carotene as confirmed by the UV spectroscopy results. The high resolution transmission electron microscopy images provide clear evidence for the formation of few layers of graphene nanosheets. Furthermore, the mechanism of GO reduction by beta-carotene has been proposed in this study. The electrochemical testing shows good charge storage properties of beta-carotene reduced GO (142 F/g at 10 mV/s; 149 F/g at 1 A/g in Na2SO4), with stable cycling (89%) for up to 1000 cycles. The findings suggest the reduction of GO nanosheets by beta-carotene is a suitable approach in producing graphene nanosheets for supercapacitor electrode. (C) 2014 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.