Structure and topography of thermally reduced graphene oxide reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol‐g‐acrylonitrile) films and study of their mechanical and electrical behavior

Abstract

Thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO) reinforced poly(vinyl alcohol‐g‐acrylonitrile) (PVA‐g‐PAN) films were prepared by carrying out graft co‐polymerization of acrylonitrile onto poly(vinyl alcohol) in a thermally and mechanically stabilized and reduced suspension of GO using potassium persulfate as initiator and N,N′methylene bis acrylamide as a crosslinking agent. The structural and morphological characterization of the TRGO reinforced (PVA‐g‐PAN) films were performed using fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, X‐ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), field emission gun‐transmission electron microscopy (FEG‐TEM), zeta potential analysis, dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements, and atomic force microscopy techniques. The FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of TRGO, PVA, and PAN in the prepared nanocomposite film, whereas zeta potential and DLS analysis provided information regarding the charge carried and particle size distribution of the TRGO nanosheets. The effect of variation in TRGO content on electrical conductivity, and mechanical properties of the TRGO reinforced (PVA‐g‐PAN) films were also investigated. The optimum tensile strength and Young's modulus of the 10%TRGO‐reinforced nanocomposite were found to be 85.06 and 33.33 MPa, respectively which were significantly higher than those for the native PVA‐g‐PAN film. The microhardness of the same nanocomposite was found to be 9.86 kg/mm2 which is nearly double than that of the native graft copolymer film. POLYM. COMPOS., 40:E409–E421, 2019. © 2018 Society of Plastics Engineers