Enhanced mechanical properties of poly(vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites with glucose-reduced graphene oxide

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) nanocomposite films with enhanced mechanical properties were prepared by solution blending of glucose-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) with aqueous solution of PVA. Poly(N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone) (PVP) was selected as the surfactant to improve the stability of the aqueous suspension of RGO. With 0.7 wt% of PVP-stabilized RGO (P-RGO), the tensile strength of PVA increases from 105 MPa to 154 MPa and the Young's modulus increases from 3.3 GPa to 4.9 GPa. These substantial improvements are attributed to the good dispersion of P-RGO nanosheets in PVA matrix and the strong hydrogen-bonding interaction between P-RGO nanosheets and PVA macromolecular chains. P-RGO nanosheets were confirmed to be randomly dispersed in PVA matrix based on the modified Halpin-Tsai model. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.