Preparation and properties of a graphene reinforced nanocomposite conducting plate

This study presents a novel nanocomposite conducting plate (CP) reinforced by graphene at a low weight fraction percentage, and compares the properties of this novel nanocomposite CP with those containing various weight fractions of multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) (0.2, 0.5, and 1 phr). Adding only 0.2 phr of graphene as reinforcement remarkably enhanced the thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the nanocomposite CP. The coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) of nanocomposite CP below the glass transition temperature (T(g)) decreased from 49.7 mu m(-1) m degrees C(-1) to 26.9 mu m(-1) m degrees C(-1) and the CTE above T(g) decreased from 119.2 mu m(-1) m degrees C(-1) to 55.2 mu m(-1) m degrees C(-1). Thermal conductivity increased from 18.4 W m(-1) K(-1) to 27.2 W m(-1) K(-1). The flexural strength increased from to 28.0 MPa to 49.2 MPa. The in-plane electrical conductivity increased from 155.7 S cm(-1) to 286.4 S cm(-1). The enhancement percentages of these properties are 47.8%, 75.7%, and 83.9%, respectively, which are much higher than that of the original composite CP. These results indicate that using graphene as reinforcement in the preparation of nanocomposite CP is effective in terms of cost and performance, because of the low cost the raw material, graphite, and the fact that a lower loading of graphene than of MWCNT can yield the same performance. Moreover, this novel multi-functional nanocomposite CP has wide potential for use in proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs), the dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) counter electrode, and vanadium redox battery (VRB) applications.