Physical wrapping of reduced graphene oxide sheets by polyethylene wax and its modification on the mechanical properties of polyethylene

Abstract

AbstractA facile method to encapsulate the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets physically with polyethylene (PE) wax was developed. The graphene oxide sheets were first wrapped with polyethylene wax, and reduced by hydrazine hydrate. The structure of the wrapped RGO was confirmed by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. The PE wax‐wrapped RGO sheets were melt blended with PE to prepare PE/RGO nanocomposites. Transmission electron microscopy and XRD studies showed that this method could provide uniform dispersion of RGO sheets in the PE matrix. Scanning electron microscopy and Raman spectroscopy indicated that there was a strong interfacial interaction between the PE wax‐wrapped RGO sheets and PE matrix. Addition of 1 wt % RGO sheets in PE matrix led to a 48% increment in the yield stress and 118% increment in the Young's modulus, respectively. However, the elongation at break decreased with increasing RGO sheets loading content. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012