Improving the migration resistance against phthalate plasticizer in polyvinyl chloride/graphene oxide composites

Phthalic plasticizer plays an important role in processing and manufacturing one of the universal polymer materials, poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC), which has been widely applied in every aspect of our lives. However, there still exists the intrinsic problem in migration resistance of phthalic plasticizer in long-term use. In this work, we take a facile and convenient approach by incorporating commercial graphene oxide (GO) into PVC matrix to prepare polyvinyl chloride/graphene oxide (PVC/GO) composites, forming a sheet structure for improving the migration resistance of phthalic plasticizer. The advantages of GO that has abundant oxygen-containing groups on its surface, including carboxyl groups at the sheet edges, epoxy groups, and hydroxyl groups on its basal planes. Especially, these oxygen-containing groups in GO are beneficial to blend with long molecular chain of PVC and the sheet structure of GO can prevent phthalic plasticizer migrating from interior PVC. Addition of GO not only effectively enhanced the mechanical properties of PVC/GO composites but also improve their migration resistance due to the sheet structure. This strategy provides an attractive way to solve the problem of migration of plasticizer with simple incorporation GO into the matrix of PVC, reinforcing the composite properties and broadening its applied fields.

Automated summary

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was incorporated into the polyvinyl chloride (PVC) matrix to improve the migration resistance of phthalic plasticizer. The sheet structure of GO, coupled with its abundant oxygen-containing groups, allowed for better blending with PVC and prevented the plasticizer from migrating.