The synthesis of graphene-based antioxidants to promote anti-thermal properties of styrene-butadiene rubber

In this work, graphene oxide (GO) was functionalized with the reactive antioxidant intermediate 4-aminodiphenylamine (RT) to obtain the immobile antioxidant (GO-RT). Then the GO-RT was used as a filler to prepare styrene- butadiene rubber (SBR) composites for enhancing the thermal oxidative stability. The results of fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy demonstrated that RT has been successfully grafted onto the GO. The grafting efficiency of GO-RT was evaluated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). Oxidation induction time (OIT) tests, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and accelerated aging tests revealed that GO-RT presented much better anti-oxidative and anti-migratory efficiencies than the corresponding low molecular counterpart (4010NA). Additionally, the mechanical strength of the modified rubber composites was also improved by the GO-RT. Thus, the GO-RT antioxidant has the excellent ability to improve the thermal oxidation resistance of SBR and also could obviously strengthen SBR.