Nickel nanoparticles were dispersed uniformly in a graphene oxide solution, using a laser ablation technique with different ablation times that ranged from 5 to 20 minutes. The results indicate that the nickel nanoparticle sizes inside the graphene oxide decreased, and the volume fraction for the nickel nanoparticles in the graphene oxide increased with an increasing ablation time. Further, using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, the nickel nanoparticles in the graphene oxide demonstrate greater stability from possible agglomeration when the nanoparticle was capped with oxygen from the carboxyl group of the graphene oxide. The thermal effusivity of the graphene oxide and nickel nanoparticle graphene oxide composite was measured using a photoacoustic technique. The concentration of graphene oxide shifted from 0.05？mg/L to 2？mg/L, and the thermal effusivity increased from 0.153？W·s1/2·cm？2·K？1 to 0.326？W·s1/2·cm？2·K？1. In addition, the thermal effusivity of the nickel nanoparticles graphene oxide composite increased with an increase in the volume fraction of nickel nanoparticles from 0.1612？W·s1/2·cm？2·K？1 to 0.228？W·s1/2·cm？2·K？1. 1. Introduction Nickel nanoparticles (Ni-NPs) have many important applications as catalysts, conducting and magnetic materials [1], and an electrode layer in multilayer ceramic capacitors [2, 3] and have both unique properties and potential applications in a variety of fields, including electronics [4], magnetic [5], energy technology [6], and biomedicine [7]. Ni-NPs can be synthesized using many methods, including photolytic reduction [8], radiolytic reduction [9], sonochemical [10], solvent extraction reduction [11], microemulsion technique [12], polyol method [13], and microwave irradiation [14]. Graphene Oxide (GO) is obtained from the oxidation of graphite crystals, a single-atomic-layered material. It can dissolve and disperse in a variety of solutions including water. GO has more applications for use in composites materials [15], solar cells [16], medicine [17, 18], antibacterial materials [19], and inorganic optoelectronic devices [20]. The GO molecular structure includes hydroxyl (OH–) and epoxy (–COO？) groups at the basal plane. Further, it also contains carboxyl groups (–COO？) at the edge of the molecular structure [21, 22]. Metal nanoparticles can improve and modify the physical properties of GO [20] as can be seen in [20] where the alteration of light scattering was achieved allowing an improved absorption of light in the solar cell. Further, Benayad et al. improved the resistivity of GO by the use of metal
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