Functionalization and Reduction of Graphene Oxide with p-Phenylene Diamine for Electrically Conductive and Thermally Stable Polystyrene Composites

A facile and efficient approach was developed to simultaneously functionalize and reduce graphene oxide (GO) with p-phenylene diamine (PPD) by simple refluxing. This was possible by the nucleophilic substitution reaction of epoxide groups of GO with amine groups of PPD aided by NH3 solution. As a consequence, electrical conductivity of GO-PPD increased to 2.1 x 10(2) S/m, which was nearly 9 orders of magnitude higher than that of GO. Additionally, after the incorporation of GO-PPD in polystyrene (PS), the composites exhibited a sharp transition from electrically insulating to conducting behavior with a low percolation threshold of similar to 0.34 vol %, which was attributed to the improved dispersion and the reduction of GO-PPD. Thermal stability of the PS/GO-PPD composite was also similar to 8 degrees C higher than that of PS.