Abstract
Transparent cellulose nanowhisker (CNW)/ graphene nanoplatelet (GN) composite films were produced via sonication mixing and solution casting methods. Such composite films exhibited improved thermal, electrical and mechanical properties. The material morphologies and microstructures were examined using scanning electronic microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis and Raman spectroscopy. Strong interaction was detected when CNWs were randomly attached onto graphene sheets, as evidenced by SEM images obtained in this study. In particular, the addition of GNs into CNWs had significant effect on the thermal behavior of composite films. The melting temperature (Tm) and initial thermal decomposition temperature (Tid) of CNW films were both increased by 23.2, 29.3, 26.3oC, and 70.2, 88.4, 87.8oC with the inclusions of 0.1, 0.25 and 0.5 wt% GNs, respectively. The electrical conductivity of composite films was enhanced in a monotonically increasing manner with the maximum level of 4.0×10-5 S/m detected at the GN content of 0.5 wt%. Their tensile strength was also improved by maximum 33.7% when increasing the GN content up to 0.25 wt% as opposed to that of CNW films. Such CNW/GN composite films can be potentially used in green anti-static and electronic packaging applications.
Highlights
Cellulose is one of the most widely used polymers in nature with the annual production of approximately 5 × 1011 tons on earth (Yuan et al, 2015)
Morphology of cellulose nanowhisker (CNW) CNWs used in this study were hydrolyzed with sulfuric acid
Luong et al (2011) reported an even higher conductivity value of 4.8 × 10−4 S/m for amine-modified nanofibrillated cellulose/0.3 wt% reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposite papers. All these results reveal the effective improvement in electrical conductivities of cellulose nanocomposites
Summary
Cellulose is one of the most widely used polymers in nature with the annual production of approximately 5 × 1011 tons on earth (Yuan et al, 2015). CNWs possess high elastic modulus, large aspect ratios and surface areas, and are generally deemed as ideal reinforcing fillers in polymer composites. Being a natural nanosized polymer, CNWs can be manufactured into different multifunctional composite materials. In view of the wide applications of CNWs, it has been demonstrated that CNWs are CNW/GN Composite Films considered as one of the most important material components in waste water treatment (Carpenter et al, 2015; Karim et al, 2016), drug delivery (Jackson et al, 2011), electronic devices (Li and Lee, 2017), energy storage (Xing et al, 2019), food packaging (Li F. et al, 2015), etc. As far as green materials and environmental sustainability are concerned, CNWs are gradually gaining more popularity in the development of functional nanomaterials
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