Combining polymers with small amounts of stiff carbon-based nanofillers such as graphene or graphene oxide is expected to yield low-density nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties. However, such nanocomposites have remained elusive because of incompatibilities between fillers and polymers that are further compounded by processing difficulties. Here we report a water-based process to obtain highly reinforced nanocomposite films by simple mixing of two liquid crystalline solutions: a colloidal nematic phase comprised of graphene oxide platelets and a nematic phase formed by a rod-like high-performance aramid. Upon drying the resulting hybrid biaxial nematic phase, we obtain robust, structural nanocomposites reinforced with graphene oxide.

Strong graphene oxide nanocomposites from aqueous hybrid liquid crystals / Hegde, Maruti; Yang, Lin; Vita, Francesco; Fox, Ryan J.; van de Watering, Renee; Norder, Ben; Lafont, Ugo; Francescangeli, Oriano; Madsen, Louis A.; Picken, Stephen J.; Samulski, Edward T.; Dingemans, Theo J.. - In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS. - ISSN 2041-1723. - 11:1(2020). [10.1038/s41467-020-14618-0]

Strong graphene oxide nanocomposites from aqueous hybrid liquid crystals

Francesco Vita;Oriano Francescangeli;
2020-01-01

Abstract

Combining polymers with small amounts of stiff carbon-based nanofillers such as graphene or graphene oxide is expected to yield low-density nanocomposites with exceptional mechanical properties. However, such nanocomposites have remained elusive because of incompatibilities between fillers and polymers that are further compounded by processing difficulties. Here we report a water-based process to obtain highly reinforced nanocomposite films by simple mixing of two liquid crystalline solutions: a colloidal nematic phase comprised of graphene oxide platelets and a nematic phase formed by a rod-like high-performance aramid. Upon drying the resulting hybrid biaxial nematic phase, we obtain robust, structural nanocomposites reinforced with graphene oxide.
2020
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11566/275022
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