High‐Performance Pristine Graphene/Epoxy Composites With Enhanced Mechanical and Electrical Properties

Abstract

High‐strength conductive pristine graphene/epoxy composites are prepared by two simple processing methods – freeze dry/mixing and solution processing. PVP‐stabilized graphene is aggregation‐resistant and allows for excellent dispersion in both the resin and final composite, as confirmed by optical microscopy and SEM images. The superior dispersion quality results in excellent nanofiller/matrix load transfer, with a 38% increase in strength and a 37% improvement in modulus for 0.46 vol% graphene loading. The composites have a very low electrical percolation threshold of 0.088 vol%. Despite the effectiveness of both methods, the freeze‐drying method is more promising and versatile enough to be used for graphene dispersion in a wide range of other composite precursors.

Determination of arbutin and bergenin in Bergeniae Rhizoma by capillary electrophoresis with a carbon nanotube-epoxy composite electrode

“…The most commonly used epoxy resin is the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A that is produced based on the reaction between bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin [19]. As a rigid and water-insoluble polymer, epoxy is a promising material in the fabrication of CNT-based composite electrodes because it can be facilely produced by in situ polycondensation [19]. Various CNT-epoxy composites have been prepared by polycondensation [20][21][22].…”

“…It is composed of epoxide group-containing prepolymers that can react with hardeners to form solids. The most commonly used epoxy resin is the diglycidyl ether of bisphenol A that is produced based on the reaction between bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin [19]. As a rigid and water-insoluble polymer, epoxy is a promising material in the fabrication of CNT-based composite electrodes because it can be facilely produced by in situ polycondensation [19].…”

Density controlled conductivity of pristine graphene films

“…It's micrometer-scale ballistic-type electrical transport [1,2] opens up the possibility for many new applications such as field-effect [3] and spintronic devices [4] as well as chemical sensing [5]. It's intrinsic strength, modulus [6] as well as thermal conductivity [7] far exceeding that of diamond [8] or carbon nanotubes (CNTs) [9] has inspired the fabrication of high-performance functional composite materials [10,11] and electronic circuits [12,13]. However to fully utilize graphene's unique properties there are two bottlenecks to overcome; namely (i) the controlled production of high-quality graphene with a selected number of layers in large quantities and (ii) the controlled uniform deposition of graphene over large areas.…”

Adsorption and removal of graphene dispersants

“…This method allows for the production of pristine graphene-based nanocomposites [1,[7][8][9][10], gels [11,12], and films [13][14][15]. Despite the frequent use of graphene dispersants, the kinetics of dispersant adsorption, desorption, and removal are poorly understood and often neglected in the literature.…”