Uniform dispersion of graphene oxide in aluminum powder by direct electrostatic adsorption for fabrication of graphene/aluminum composites

Abstract

The excellent properties of graphene promote it as an ideal reinforcement in composites. However, dispersing graphene homogenously into metals is a key challenge that limits the development of high-performance graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites. Here, via simple electrostatic interaction between graphene oxide (GO) and Al flakes, uniform distribution of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in an Al matrix is achieved. The adsorption process of GO on Al flakes is efficient, as it can be completed in minutes and proceeds spontaneously without any chemical agents. GO can be partially reduced by the electron interchange during the adsorption process and could be thoroughly reduced after subsequent thermal annealing. A densified RGO/Al composite can be obtained by hot pressing the RGO/Al composite powders. By employing the preceding fabrication process, a composite reinforced with only 0.3 wt.% of RGO shows an 18 and 17% increase in elastic modulus and hardness, respectively, over unreinforced Al, demonstrating RGO is a better reinforcement than most other reinforcements.

Synergistic strengthening effect of graphene-carbon nanotube hybrid structure in aluminum matrix composites

“…AFM result shows that the exfoliated graphite oxide cast on a mica substrate has a thickness of about 1 nm, as reported in our previous work [23], indicating the achievement of suspensions with monolayer GO dispersion [10]. However, there is some variation in the lateral M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT 8 dimension of these sheets, ranging from 200 nm to almost 1 µm, as measured by AFM.…”

“…Spherical Al powders (99.99% purity, average particle size ~ 10 µm, as shown in They were subsequently immersed in deionized water, after which the GO-CNT hybrid suspension were added and stirred until the hybrid was fully adsorbed onto the Al flakes [23]. After filtration, rinsing with ethanol, and vacuum drying, GO-CNT/Al composite powders were obtained.…”

Composite structural modeling and tensile mechanical behavior of graphene reinforced metal matrix composites

“…In this work, a novel flaky powder metallurgy route was applied to prepare the graphene/Al composites with bioinspired layered structures, which has been proved to be effective to fabricate the carbon nanotubes reinforced aluminum composites in our previous work [26,27]. In this route, the GO (95% in purity) nanosheets modified with hydroxyl or carboxyl groups on their surface rather than the graphene were applied as the raw material.…”

Recent Developments Concerning the Dispersion Methods and Mechanisms of Graphene

“…Li et al [84] realized the uniform dispersion of GO in aluminum powder through direct electrostatic adsorption. This type of adsorption did not require any chemical catalyst.…”