Zirconia Reduced Graphene Oxide Nano-Hybrid Structure Fabricated by the Hydrothermal Reaction Method.

Anton Smirnov,Yuri Pristinskiy,Nestor Washington Solís Pinargote,Pavel Peretyagin,José F Bartolomé,Nikita Peretyagin

doi:10.3390/ma13030687

Abstract

In this work, we report an available technique for the effective reduction of graphene oxide (GO) and the fabrication of nanostructured zirconia reduced graphene oxide powder via a hydrothermal method. Characterization of the obtained nano-hybrid structure materials was carried out using a scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The confirmation that GO was reduced and the uniform distribution of zirconia nanoparticles on graphene oxide sheets during synthesis was obtained due to these techniques. This has presented new opportunities and prospects to use this uncomplicated and inexpensive technique for the development of zirconia/graphene nanocomposite powders.

Highlights

IntroductionOver the past years carbon-based nanostructured materials such as carbon, CNTs (carbon nanotubes), graphene, CNFs (carbon nanofibers), fullerenes, etc. have accomplished swift evolution and extensive use because of their Van der Waals force and covalent bonding, chemical stability, and high stiffness and strength together with their low weight.The formation of graphene [1] raised new perspectives with respect to design of new class of materials with improved characteristics with a large diversity of essential functionalities, including physical, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties as well as chemical and bioperformance [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9].The sp hybridisation that occurs during the formation of carbon atoms is in charge of its stand-out in-plane elastic and mechanical properties, namely Young modulus (0.5–1 TPa [10]) and tensile strength (130 GPa [9])
A nanostructured ZrO2 /reduced graphene oxide (rGO) powder was fabricated using a low-cost and simple method, namely the hydrothermal synthesis technique. This process can be summarized in a few steps: As a result of the ZrOCl2 solution hydrolysis process, the positively charged zirconia ions were generated and collected at a surface of negatively charged graphene oxide (GO) sheets due to electrostatic attraction
The as-prepared nanocomposite powder was characterized by X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Raman, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements

Summary

Introduction

Over the past years carbon-based nanostructured materials such as carbon, CNTs (carbon nanotubes), graphene, CNFs (carbon nanofibers), fullerenes, etc. have accomplished swift evolution and extensive use because of their Van der Waals force and covalent bonding, chemical stability, and high stiffness and strength together with their low weight.The formation of graphene [1] raised new perspectives with respect to design of new class of materials with improved characteristics with a large diversity of essential functionalities, including physical, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties as well as chemical and bioperformance [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9].The sp hybridisation that occurs during the formation of carbon atoms is in charge of its stand-out in-plane elastic and mechanical properties, namely Young modulus (0.5–1 TPa [10]) and tensile strength (130 GPa [9]). The formation of graphene [1] raised new perspectives with respect to design of new class of materials with improved characteristics with a large diversity of essential functionalities, including physical, mechanical, thermal, and optical properties as well as chemical and bioperformance [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9]. A large surface area of 2D structure of graphene gives a more matrix-second phase interaction area regardless of the interaction accompanied by transfer of electrons, phonons or mechanical stresses compared to CNTs or graphite [3,11]. Zirconia ceramics (ZrO2 ) have received significant attention from the scientific circles as a potential material for various structural applications, because of their high mechanical characteristics, Materials 2020, 13, 687; doi:10.3390/ma13030687 www.mdpi.com/journal/materials

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