• 文献标题:   Exfoliated Graphene Leads to Exceptional Mechanical Properties of Polymer Composite Films
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   PANG YS, YANG JL, CURTIS TE, LUO SR, HUANG DZ, FENG Z, MORALESFERREIRO JO, SAPKOTA P, LEI F, ZHANG JM, ZHANG QN, LEE E, HUANG YJ, GUO RL, PTASINSKA S, ROEDER RK, LUO TF
  • 作者关键词:   graphene, polyethylene, nanocomposite, drawing ratio, mechanical strength
  • 出版物名称:   ACS NANO
  • ISSN:   1936-0851 EI 1936-086X
  • 通讯作者地址:   Univ Notre Dame
  • 被引频次:   11
  • DOI:   10.1021/acsnano.8b04734
  • 出版年:   2019

▎ 摘  要

Polymers with superior mechanical properties are desirable in many applications. In this work, polyethylene (PE) films reinforced with exfoliated thermally reduced graphene oxide (TrGO) fabricated using a roll-to-roll hot-drawing process are shown to have outstanding mechanical properties. The specific ultimate tensile strength and Young's modulus of PE/TrGO films increased monotonically with the drawing ratio and TrGO filler fraction, reaching up to 3.2 +/- 0.5 and 109.3 +/- 12.7 GPa, respectively, with a drawing ratio of 60X and a very low TrGO weight fraction of 1%. These values represent by far the highest reported to date for a polymer/graphene composite. Experimental characterizations indicate that as the polymer films are drawn, TrGO fillers are exfoliated, which is further confirmed by molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. Exfoliation increases the specific area of the TrGO fillers in contact with the PE matrix molecules. Molecular dynamics simulations show that the PE-TrGO interaction is stronger than the PE-PE intermolecular van der Waals interaction, which enhances load transfer from PE to TrGO and leverages the ultrahigh mechanical properties of TrGO.