Mechanical properties of graphene oxide–polyacrylamide composites before and after swelling in water

Abstract

Polyacrylamide (PAAm) hydrogels have been proposed for use as promising biomaterials in biomedical and tissue engineering but their poor mechanical and water-retention properties have hindered their development. Graphene oxide (GO), an excellent nanofiller, was added to PAAm to produce mechanically strong GO–PAAm composites. The free radical crosslinking copolymerization method was used with GO content varying in the range between 5 and 50 µl of GO. The mechanical properties of the GO–PAAm composites are measured by compressive test, revealing a decrease in the shear modulus and toughness of the composites above 8 µl of GO by increasing GO content.