Synergistic toughening of bioinspired artificial nacre by polystyrene grafted graphene oxide

Abstract

A biologically inspired, multilayer laminate structural design is deployed in composite films of polystyrene (PS) grafted graphene oxide (GO) synthesized by a Ce(IV)/HNO 3 redox system in aqueous solution.Artificial hybrid films are fabricated using a vacuum-assisted filtration macroscopic assembly method, using nacre as the structural model, GO as the inorganic building blocks and PS as glue. The resulting multilayer structure and the mechanical properties of the nanopaper were studied by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and stress-strain measurements. The resulting multilayer GO-PS films with low polymer content (<15 vol%) show greatly enhanced mechanical properties compared to pure GO films. It is interesting that the mechanical properties of the nacre-like films can be varied with the volume fraction of the polymer.

Graphene‐Based Films with Integrated Strength and Toughness via a Novel Two‐Step Method Combining Gel Casting and Surface Crosslinking

“…Several samples for each specimen were tested, and the average fracture strength, elongation at break, and volumetric toughness are summarized in Figure b–d. The strength of pristine GOF was measured to be 32.8±4.0 MPa with an elongation of 2.12±0.19 %, and the toughness was calculated to be 0.35±0.11 MJ m −3 , which is comparable to those of GOFs reported previously . The addition of a small amount of PAAP improved both the strength and elongation of the films.…”

Graphene oxide/poly (N-isopropylacrylamide) hybrid film-based near-infrared light-driven bilayer actuators with shape memory effect

“…3(b)). The peak for pure GO was observed at 2 = 9.08°, suggesting that the interlayer distance is 9.74 Å, agreeing well with previous literatures [44][45][46][47]. When the PNIPAM is intercalated between the GO sheets via hydrogen bond, the peak shift to 7.85°, revealing the increased interlayer distance of 11.24 Å.…”

Free-Standing Graphene Oxide and Carbon Nanotube Hybrid Papers with Enhanced Electrical and Mechanical Performance and Their Synergy in Polymer Laminates

“…We observed an increment of Young’s modulus and tensile strength for the hybrid fillers in the composite as compared to neat PS and PS-GO laminate. Under tensile loading, the higher shear strength between PS-GO/C-SWNT, interlayer bridging of GO sheets through C-SWNT are responsible for enhanced energy dissipation loading and resulted in higher toughness modulus [ 68 , 69 , 70 ] than the GO-PS system. Nevertheless, the toughness modulus of the PS is the highest among the PS-GO and PS- GO/C-SWNT due to the lower capability of the carbon materials (graphene and carbon nanotubes) to absorb energy and accommodate large deformation [ 71 ].…”