Photomechanical Characteristics of Thermally Reduced Graphene Oxide - Polydimethylsiloxane Nanocomposites

Materials, exhibiting light induced strain, are of great interest for future generation wireless remote control photo-actuators. Herein, we demonstrate the light triggered actuation in thermally reduced graphene oxide (TRGO)-Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanocomposite with much larger photomechanical stress and strain. The photomechanical stress for TRGO-PDMS nanocomposite is more than 100% that of carbon nano tube (CNT)-PDMS nanocomposites. Results show that 1wt.% of TRGO-PDMS nanocomposite at 46% prestrain exhibits a photomechanical stress of 133.44kPa and a strain of 7.17%, which is much greater than that reported for graphene-nanoplatelet-PDMS nanocomposite photoactuators.