Physical study of room-temperature-cured epoxy/thermally reduced graphene oxides with various contents of oxygen-containing groups

In this study, the effects of different oxygen-containing group contents in thermally reduced graphene oxides (TRGs) for enhancing the physical properties of epoxy nancomposites was examined. The epoxy/TRG nanocomposites (ETNs) were prepared by a room temperature curing method in the presence of TRGs containing different oxygen-containing groups and were then characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. TRG contents with higher oxygen-containing group contents (ca 33%) were found to show better dispersion capability in the epoxy matrix than TRGs with lower oxygen-containing group contents (ca 11%) based on morphological observations by transmission electron microscopy. The better dispersion capability of TRGs with higher oxygen-containing group contents in ETN membranes was found to lead to significantly enhanced mechanical strength, thermal stability and thermal conductivity based on measurements of dynamic mechanical analysis, tensile tests, thermogravimetric analysis and by the transient plane source technique. (c) 2014 The Authors. Polymer International published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry