Simultaneous Reduction and Polymerization of Graphene Oxide/Styrene Mixtures To Create Polymer Nanocomposites with Tunable Dielectric Constants

Abstract

Polymer nanocomposites containing carbon nanomaterials such as carbon black, carbon nanotubes, and graphene exhibit exceptional mechanical, thermal, electrical, and gas-barrier properties. Although the materials property benefits are well established, controlling the dispersion of carbon nanomaterials in polymer matrixes during processing is still a difficult task using current methods. Here, we report a simple, yet versatile method to simultaneously achieve the reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and polymerization of styrene to create reduced graphene oxide/poly(styrene) (RGO/PS) nanocomposite materials via microwave heating. The RGO/PS mixture is then processed into films of desired thicknesses by first removing unreacted styrene and then pressing the powder at elevated temperatures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy proved that microwave processing was able to reduce GO, which resulted in a change in the carbon-to-oxygen ratio from 2.0 for GO to 4.5 for RGO. Furthermore, the addition of GO to the RGO/PS nanocomposites leads to an increase in the static dielectric constant (ε s ) relative to that of pure PS, with a minimal change in tan δ (∼0.06% at room temperature). The simultaneous microwave reduction/polymerization method described here will potentially lead to the production of polymer-based dielectric nanocomposite materials with tunable dielectric constants for energy-storage applications.

Controlling nanostructure and mechanical properties in triblock copolymer/monomer blends via reaction-induced phase transitions

“…Similar reductions in T g,PS have been reported using related PS polymerization and processing procedures. 35 An estimate of the segregation of the PS and PBD domain was estimated using the Fox equation to determine the weight fraction of either PBD or PS in the PS or PBD domains, respectively (Table S1, ESI †). These results infer that the domains are relatively pure with limited difference in the T g of either phase relative to the original ABA triblock copolymer.…”

Trends on Synthesis of Polymeric Nanocomposites Based on Green Chemistry

“…The results have shown that these processes are performed in the first minutes of MW irradiation. In the case of GO, its dielectric heating accelerated the heating speed of the reaction mixture, producing the reduction, exfoliation, and hybridization of GrO, when it was irradiated at 100% power; in addition, the hybridization reaction occurred during the whole reaction time [93,94]. Also, there are some works which deal with the synthesis of PNCs and NPs carried out in a single step, by adding their precursor salts and reducing agents to the reaction mixture, for producing PNCs with dispersed and coated (with polymer) NPs [95,96].…”

Skin-Inspired Pressure Sensor with MXene/P(VDF-TrFE-CFE) as Active Layer for Wearable Electronics

“…Among thousands of polymers, ferroelectric polymers, including poly(vinylidene fluoride) (PVDF) and its binary or ternary copolymers, are more suitable for wearable electronics, since they have excellent electromechanical conversion performance and high capacity of electric storage [ 39 ]. Furthermore, adding a certain amount of fillers, such as barium titanate, graphene, carbon nanotubes, and metal particles into the polymer matrix to form nanocomposite is an effective strategy to improve the dielectric properties of the flexible polymer materials and preserve good flexibility at the same time [ 36 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 ].…”