Graphene oxide flakes were successfully fabricated and deposited as a film onto a silicon substrate. A series of these samples were annealed at various temperatures under a low pressure argon environment. The valence structure of the surface is examined using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy whilst the chemical nature of the surface is examined using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The sheet resistance was measured to document the performance changes with variation in electronic and chemical nature of the surface. It was found that increasing the annealing temperature increased the 2p pi content leading to a better conductivity and reduction in sheet resistance. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.