Mercaptopropyl-doped ultra-small silica modified GO nanosheets to enhance mechanical properties of nitrile butadiene rubber

Abstract

Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets reinforced rubbers had been extensively researched. However, it is very difficult to make GO nanosheets uniformly dispersed in the polar nitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) matrix and non-polar carbon black (CB) simultaneously. The ultra-small mercaptopropyl doped silica (HS@SiO2) anchored on the GO nanosheet (HS@SiO2-GO) has been synthesized through the condensation of the tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and (3-Mercaptopropyl)trimethoxysilane (MPTS) monomer. The as-prepared mercaptopropyl doped silica modified graphene oxide has strong interfacial interaction with both the polar NBR matrix and non-polar carbon black nanoparticles. Excitingly, with only 1 phr of GO modified by HS@SiO2 has greatly improved the tensile strength of CB/NBR composites from 8.9 MPa to 16.1 MPa.