▎ 摘　　要

In situ chemical linkage between nanofillers and polymer is challenging, but it is an effective process for enhancing the mechanical and thermal properties of polymer nanocomposites. Herein, novel amine-functionalized graphene is designed and developed to show the in situ chemical interaction with epoxy matrix. Three different graphene materials, graphene oxide (GO), carboxylic graphene oxide (GO-COOH), and ethylenediamine substituted graphene oxide (GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2) is synthesized chemically, and epoxy nanocomposite with different wt% is fabricated. FTIR showed the presence of hydroxyl and amide bond formation, confirmed by C-13-NMR, where the carboxylic carbon peak of GO at 193 ppm shifted to 184 ppm for GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2. Elemental analysis by XPS showed that C: O: N of GO changed from 70:30:0 to 79:13:8 for GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2. Three-point bending studies revealed that maximum flexural strength and modulus for GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2 incorporated epoxy polymer composite because of intermolecular chemical bond formation between the epoxy resin and GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2. The formation of a chemical bond between GO-CONHCH2CH2NH2 and epoxy polymer is confirmed by Raman spectroscopy and XPS analysis. The mechanism of forming an in situ chemical bond between amine-functionalized graphene and the epoxy polymer is derived based on experimental evidence.