David John Dmonte^1,2,, A. Pandiyarajan^2,3,, Rajesh Swaminathan^4,, Sakunthala Ayyasamy^4,, Vidhya Bhojan^2,*, and Raju Nandhakumar^5,*,

¹Centre of Polymer Systems, University Institute, Tomas Bata University in Zlin, Trida Tomase Bati 5678, 760 01 Zlin, Czech Republic

²Centre for Nanoscience and Genomics, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (Deemed to be University), Coimbatore-641114, India

³Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Dong Hwa University, Shoufeng, 974 01 Hualien, Taiwan

⁴Department of Applied Physics, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (Deemed to be University), Coimbatore-641114, India

⁵Department of Applied Chemistry, Karunya Institute of Technology and Sciences (Deemed to be University), Coimbatore-641114, India

*Corresponding authors: E-mail: vidhya@karunya.edu; nandhakumar@karunya.edu

A hybrid material reduced graphene oxide based organic nanocomposite was synthesized from graphite by modified Hummers method, which is further chemically reduced to form reduced graphene oxide (rGO) and with resorcinol through a solvothermal process a reduced graphene oxide-resorcinol (rGO-R) nanocomposite was obtained. The synthesized materials surface morphology and structural compositions were studied through X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) and their optical properties were studied through UV-visible spectroscopy and photoluminescence. The material was further used as a fluorescent chemosensor to detect cerium ion under aqueous conditions. The rGO-R composite’s sensing abilities were studied by following parameters viz. pH, reversibility, time and the interference of other probable competing ions. The sensing follows both the photo-induced electron transfer and intramolecular charge transfer processes.

Reduced graphene oxide, Resorcinol, Nanocomposite, Chemosensor, Cerium.