Structure-property relationships in graphene/polymer nanocomposites

Abstract

Graphene’s unique combination of excellent electrical, thermal, and mechanical properties can provide multi-functional reinforcement for polymer nanocomposites. However, poor dispersion of graphene in non-polar polyolefins limits its applications as a universal filler. Thus, the overall goal of this thesis was to improve graphene's dispersion in graphene/polyolefin nanocomposites and develop processing-structure-property relationships. A new polymer matrix was synthesized by blending polyethylene (PE) with oxidized polyethylene (OPE). Inclusion of OPE in PE produced miscible blends, but the miscibility decreased with increasing OPE loading. Meanwhile, the Young's modulus of blends increased with increasing OPE concentration, attributed to decreased long period order in PE and increased crystallinity. In addition, the miscibility of OPE in PE substantially reduced the viscosity of blends. Using thermally reduced graphene (TRG) produced by simultaneous thermal exfoliation and reduction of graphite oxide, electrically conductive nanocomposites were manufactured by incorporating TRG in PE/OPE blends via solution blending. The rheological and electrical percolations decreased substantially to 0.3 and 0.13 vol% of TRG in PE/OPE/TRG nanocomposites compared to 1.0 and 0.3 vol% in PE/TRG nanocomposites. Improved dispersion of TRG in blends was attributed to increased TRG/polymer interactions, leading to high aspect ratio of the dispersed TRG. A universal Brownian dispersion mechanism for graphene was concluded similar to that of carbon nanotubes, following the Doi-Edwards theory. Furthermore, the improved dispersion of TRG correlated with the formation of surface fractals in PE/OPE/TRG nanocomposites, whereas the poor dispersion of TRG in PE led to the formation of only mass fractals. Moreover, graphene and carbon black (CB) were combined as a synergic filler for manufacturing electrically conductive PE nanocomposites. Smaller fractals were observed at lower CB concentration whereas increasing CB concentration produced large CB agglomerates on the graphene surface. A remarkably high conductivity of ~1 S/cm was achieved at 15 wt% using graphene/CB ratio of 1:1, which decreased with increasing CB relative to graphene. Therefore, using graphene/CB 1:1 hybrid filler could reduce the cost of conductive nanocomposites by 50%.