The composites based on plasticized starch and graphene oxide/reduced graphene oxide

The graphite was oxidized to prepare graphene oxide (GO), and GO was reduced by glucose to obtain reduced grapheme oxide (RGO) sheet. There were abundant and residual oxygen-containing groups on GO and RGO, respectively. Compared to graphite, the GO and RGO sheets appeared flat and transparent, and the aqueous suspensions followed the Lambert Beer's law well. The composites were also fabricated by using GO and RGO as the filler in plasticized-starch (PS) matrix. Because of more oxygen-containing groups, GO could form the stronger interaction with PS matrix than RGO. And GO/PS composites exhibited better tensile strength, elongation at break and moisture barrier than RGO/PS composites, but lower thermal stability. GO/PS composites could protect against UV light, while the conductivities of RGO/PS composites could reach 1.07 x 10(-4), 6.92 x 10(-4) and 0.01 S/cm, respectively stored at RH50, 75 and 100%. Crown Copyright (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.