Thermal, mechanical and water barrier properties of graphene oxide/polyvinyl alcohol/polyol composite films

Abstract

The novel polymer composite of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), polyol(PO) and graphene oxide (GO) was used to prepare the PVA/PO and GO/PVA/PO with different weight percents of GO (0.5 and 1% denoted as (0.5 wt%)GO/PVA/PO and (1 wt%)GO/PVA/PO, respectively) through solution casting blend technique. The structure–properties of all used films were confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM), Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM), X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and mechanical properties. The SEM results exhibited the uniform and homogeneous dispersion of GO in the PVA/PO blend matrix. The TEM and XRD analysis confirmed the structure and exfoliation of GO nanosheets, respectively. Thermal stability suggested that (0.5 wt%)GO/PVA/PO and (1 wt%) GO/PVA/PO films are more stable than PVA/PO. The tensile strength of (0.5 wt%)GO/PVA/PO and (1 wt%)GO/PVA/PO films reached 270.5% and 1349.6%, respectively, which are higher than that of the PVA/PO film. The decrease in the water absorption (WA) of GO/PVA/PO was found from 110.5 to 38.4%. The physico-mechanical properties of used films suggested that the prepared GO/PVA/PO blend composite films can be applied in food packaging areas.