Hindered phenol functionalized graphene oxide for natural rubber

Hindered phenol functionalized graphene oxide (HPFGO) was prepared by grafting 2,6-Di-tert-butyl-4-hydroxymethyl phenol (DBHMP) onto graphene oxide (GO) using isophorone diisocyanate as bridging agent. FT-IR, XPS, XRD and TGA results confirmed the chemical structure of HPFGO. By latex-mixing method, HPFGO was uniformly dispersed in natural rubber (NR) matrix and obviously enhanced the thermal stability. Importantly, HPFGO significantly improved the thermo-oxidative aging resistance of NR vulcanizate, which was attributed to not only the synergistic antioxidative effect between hindered phenol and urethane groups, but also the barrier role of HPFGO sheets to oxygen. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.