Abstract
Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) was used to obtain Polystyrene (PS)/rGO nanocomposites via in-situ suspension polymerization. The main goal of the article was to determine how rGO influences the morphology and thermal properties of PS beads. The obtained samples were studied by means of a scanning electron microscope (SEM), and calorimetric and thermogravimetric analysis (DCS, TGA). It was proven that the addition of rGO, due to the presence of polar functional groups, causes significant changes in bead sizes and size distribution, and in their morphology (on the surface and in cross-section). The increasing amount of rGO in the polymer matrix increased the size of beads from 0.36 to 3.17 mm for pure PS and PS with 0.2 wt% rGO content, respectively. PS/rGO nanocomposites are characterized by distinctly improved thermostability, which is primarily expressed in the increase in their decomposition temperature. For a sample containing 0.3 wt% rGO, the difference is more than 12 °C in comparison to pure PS beads.
Highlights
Nanocomposites with the addition of various allotropic forms of carbon, such as carbon black, carbon nanotubes or fullerene, have been investigated for many years [1,2,3,4]
We studied the effect of reduced graphene oxide addition on the morphology and thermal properties of obtained samples
Before the introduction of Reduced graphene oxide (rGO) into the polymer matrix, the nanoadditive was characterized by the Wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) studies
Summary
Nanocomposites with the addition of various allotropic forms of carbon, such as carbon black, carbon nanotubes or fullerene, have been investigated for many years [1,2,3,4]. The discovery of graphene, which is characterized by excellent mechanical, thermal and electrical properties, has resulted in numerous attempts to apply it in many fields in our daily life For this reason, intensive research of nanocomposites with graphene (and/or its derivatives) is carried out to obtain a new class of materials that could be applied as biosensors, supercapacitors, solar cells or for electromagnetic shielding (EMI) [5,6,7,8]. There are many different methods that allow the production of nanocomposites, including those containing graphene, but the most commonly used methods include: in-situ polymerization, solvent processing, melt blending and layer by layer assembly [9,10,11,12]. The nanocomposites prepared in this process are characterized by very good mechanical properties, with a much lower
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