Mechanical enhancement of self-healing waterborne polyurethane by graphene oxide

Waterborne polyurethane has been widely used in coatings and adhesives for its more environmentally friendly feature as compared with traditional solvent based polyurethanes. It is important to develop strategies to design and construct powerful waterborne polyurethane with outstanding thermal, mechanical and self-healing properties. Herein, a series of self-healing waterborne polyurethane/graphene oxide nanocomposites were prepared by solution blending method. The waterborne polyurethane/graphene oxide nanocomposites exhibited excellent dispersion stability and better thermo stability. Meanwhile, tensile strengths of the nanocomposites were 22-47% higher than that of neat waterborne polyurethane. Thus, the above results forward the synthesized waterborne polyurethane/graphene oxide nanocomposites as an eco-friendly and self-healing polymeric material with good thermal stability and mechanical property.