Mechanochemical Exfoliation of Graphite and Its Polyvinyl Alcohol Nanocomposites with Enhanced Barrier Properties

Polyvinylalcohol/graphite nanocomposites with graphite nanosheets have been prepared by a mechanical method based on grinding of graphite powder, under low energy pure shearing milling, using water or KOH as lubricant. The use of different lubricant concurs to obtain graphite sheets that differently disperse in hydrophilic polymeric matrix. An improvement of water vapor permeability (up to 12%), compared with homopolymer, has been observed.