Relationship between the Microstructure and Performance of Graphene/Polyethylene Composites Investigated by Positron Annihilation Lifetime Spectroscopy.

Xiaobing Han,Tao Chen,Houhua Xiong,Yuan Zhao,Zhiyuan Chen,Yanan Sang,Jie Gao

doi:10.3390/nano11112990

Xiaobing Han, Tao Chen + Show 5 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/nano11112990

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Journal: Nanomaterials	Publication Date: Nov 6, 2021
Citations: 12	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: Hubei University of Science and Technology

Abstract

The quantitative characterization of microstructure is most desirable for the establishment of structure-property relationships in polymer nanocomposites. In this work, the effects of graphene on the microstructure, mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the obtained graphene/polyethylene (PE) composites were investigated. In order to reveal the structure-performance relationship of graphene/PE composites, especially for the effects of the relative free volume fraction (fr) and interfacial interaction intensity (β), positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy (PALS) was employed for its quantitative description. The relative free volume fraction fr gives a good explanation of the variation for surface resistivity, melting temperature, and thermal stability, and the variation of tensile strength and thermal conductivity agree well with the results of interfacial interaction intensity β. The results showed that fr and β have a significant effect on the properties of the obtained graphene/PE composites, and the effect on the properties was revealed.

Highlights

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most important commercial polymer materials
The results showed that the fr and β had a significant effect on the mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties of the obtained graphene/PE composites, and their effect on the properties was revealed
All sets of signals are present in the 1 wt% graphene/PE composites, though there is no appreciable difference present in the 1 wt% graphene/PE composites, though there is no appreciable differ‐

Summary

Introduction

Polyethylene (PE) is one of the most important commercial polymer materials. In the PE family, low density PE has a wide application in our daily life due to its low cost and good flexibility [1,2]. When carbon-based nanofillers are incorporated, PE composites with improved mechanical, electrical, and thermal properties can be produced [3,4] These PE nanocomposites have potential for applications such as static charge dissipative materials, semiconductor layers, thermal management materials, and gas barrier materials [5,6,7,8,9,10]. Within these carbon-based nanofillers, graphene has grown most rapidly due to its excellent mechanical, electrical, thermal, and barrier properties and huge surface area [11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19]. The fr determines the transport performance, such as electrical conductivity, thermal stability, and gas/liquid barrier properties [19,20,21,22]

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