A Green Route for Quick and Kilogram Production of Reduced Graphene Oxide and Their Applications at Low Loadings in Epoxy Resins

Abstract

This work reports a green and facile approach to produce bulk amount reduced Graphene Oxide using Graphene Oxide as precursor through Ball Milling in presence of Zinc (Zn) powder activated with NaOH (0.5 ml NaOH (1 M) for 2 g Zn powder). Compared to most of the reported reduction of GO by using hydrazine or any other means, the present route is quite simple, inexpensive and eco-friendly. Since the proposed reduction for GO to rGO involves a solid-state processing assisted with a friction and chemical reactions, no additional purification is required. Furthermore, the extent of reduction of GO (C/O ratio in rGO ∼ 8.8) in the present strategy is much higher than that in the different approaches using metallic Zinc and NaOH, indicating a cooperativity between friction gener-ated during milling and chemical reactions. A probable mechanism for GO to rGO reduction is proposed and reduction strategy has been optimized in terms of milling time, rpm and amount of Zn powder used. To verify the applicability of asprepared rGO, we have examined the impact of rGO on the improvement of thermo-mechanical and morphological properties of Epoxy nanocomposites. Here, few layered rGO based Epoxy nanocomposites were obtained via solution blending method and subsequent hot-pressing. It was observed that rGO apparently filled in the interspaces of polymeric chains, which were helpful for the synchronously ∼ 10-15% increment in thermo-mechanical properties of fabricated nanocomposites even with an eminently low loading of rGO.[a] Dr.

Green Carbon Nanostructures for Functional Composite Materials

“…Narayanan et al [25] also reported the hydrothermal synthesis of rGO using starch as reducing agent. The combination of the green chemical reduction with mechanical exfoliation (e.g., Taylor vortex flow or ball milling) is another eco-friendly strategy to synthesize rGO [43,44]. The green reduction of GO is a low-cost process.…”

“…Not mentioned rGO (BM/Zn) Epoxy resin/rGO (0.1-0.3%) composites Improvement of thermomechanical properties. [44] rGO: reduced graphene oxide. UV: ultraviolet.…”

“…The mechanical reinforcement promoted by the incorporation of a carbon nanostructure into a polymer matrix is a general effect with interest in most of areas [9,44,47,50]. The synthesis methods and precursors of carbon nanostructures should be carefully selected since they can influence the preparation of composites.…”

Facile, cost-effective and eco-friendly synthesis of carbonyl-rich partially reduced graphene oxide using glucose as a sole precursor

“…The weak broad peak from 3491 to 2920 cm −1 is due to O-H stretching vibrations in hydroxyl groups present on the basal plane and of intercalated free H 2 O molecules [20]. Residual CO 2 adsorbed on to the sample results in a small peak at 2333 cm −1 [34]. 1403 cm −1 peak is attributed to O-H bending vibrations incurred by the angular deformation of water adsorbed on the sample [32].…”