Graphene oxide crosslinker for the enhancement of mechanical properties of polylactic acid

Polylactic acid (PLA) biopolymer appears to provide environmental advantages over the petroleum-derived polymers but often ends up with limited applications owing to their poor mechanical performance and brittleness. Herein, we present a PLA polymer compatible graphene oxide (GO) based crosslinker with the intention of improving the mechanical properties. Lactic acid (LA) functionalized GO (GO-LA) crosslinker was prepared and had been crosslinked with the PLA chains through a one-step polycondensation reaction. The mechanical properties of the as-synthesized GO crosslinked PLA (GO-C-PLA) were investigated by compression tests and compared with neat PLA, and GO reinforced PLA (GO-PLA) with no crosslinking. With 0.3% of GO-LA crosslinker in GO-C-PLA, the compressive modulus increased by nine times compared to that of the neat PLA. The compressive strength also increased to 46 MPa, which was four times higher than the neat PLA. This strategy for improving the mechanical properties by introducing GO-based crosslinker can be used potentially for many polycondensation polymers and thus be useful for many high-performance applications.

Automated summary

A strategy of improving the mechanical properties of PLA polymer by introducing a GO-based crosslinker was proposed in this study. Experimental results showed that adding 0.3% of GO-LA crosslinker increased the compressive modulus of GO-C-PLA by nine times and the compressive strength to 46 MPa, suggesting the potential use of this method in various polycondensation polymers.