Issue 11, 2012

Ultrasonication-assisted direct functionalization of graphene with macromolecules

Abstract

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) functionalized graphene (f-G) was prepared by ultrasonication of pristine graphene (p-G) in a PVA aqueous solution. PVA macroradicals formed by sonochemical degradation of the PVA solution were successfully trapped by graphene and grafted onto its surface. This was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy, atomic-force microscopy and 1H NMR measurements. The content of PVA on graphene was estimated to be ∼35%. The f-G could be well dispersed in the PVA matrix by a simple solution mixing and casting procedure. Due to the effective load transfer between f-G and PVA matrix, the mechanical properties of the f-G/PVA films were significantly improved. Compared with the p-G/PVA films, a 12.6% increase in tensile strength and a 15.6% improvement of Young's modulus were achieved by addition of only 0.3 wt% f-G. Moreover, our simple ultrasonication technique could enable us to functionalize graphene with other polymers.

Graphical abstract: Ultrasonication-assisted direct functionalization of graphene with macromolecules

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
15 Nov 2011
Accepted
14 Mar 2012
First published
13 Apr 2012

RSC Adv., 2012,2, 4713-4719

Ultrasonication-assisted direct functionalization of graphene with macromolecules

B. Shen, W. Zhai, D. Lu, J. Wang and W. Zheng, RSC Adv., 2012, 2, 4713 DOI: 10.1039/C2RA01098D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements