Assembly Of Graphene Oxide/carbon Nanotubes And Related Composites Properties

Due to their nanosize and extraordinary structures,carbon nanotubes(CNTs)and grapheme(G)are of excellent mechanical,magnetic,electrical and thermal properties.However,the high hydrophobicity and chemical inertness of CNTs and G make it difficult to be sufficiently wetted by polymer.The applications of CNTs and G as reinforcements in polymer based composites have been restricted by their poor compatibility and dispersion in polymers matrix.The chemical and physical modifications endow CNTs and G with the improved compatibility and dispersion on one hand,and the reduced electrical and thermal performances arising from the destroyed sp~2 configuration on the other.In this regard,it is of significance to develop the nanocomposites containing ordered and controllable macroscopic carbon architecture.In this study,GO produced by the modified Hummer's method and CNTs were involved in a hydrothermal reaction in the presence of 2-ethyl-4-methylimidazole(2,4-EMI).The assembly of GO and CNTs into the Pickering stabilizer with tailorable amphiphilicity has been demonstrated in X-ray diffraction(XRD)spectra,Fourier transform infra-red(FTIR),Raman spectra and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS)characterizations.Methyl methacrylate(MMA)monomer used as oil phase to form O/W type Pickering emulsion was employed to achieve the core-shell structured PMMA microspheres enclosed by EMI/GO/CNTs nanohybrids via radical polymerization reaction,which was compression molded into GO/CNTs/PMMA nanocomposites.The structure and properties of GO/CNTs hybrid stabilizer are attributed to their formulation and hydrothermal reaction condition,which are responsible for the type of Pickering emulsion and the size of emulsion droplet.The electrical conductivity,flexural and compression strengths of GO/CNTs/PMMA nanocomposites originating from O/W type Pickering emulsion presented different variation tendency as a function of the increased nanohybrid stabilizer content.The peak values of electrical conductivity and mechanical properties of the resulting nanocomposites were attained at the GO-to-CNTs mass ratioes of 4:1 and 6:1,respectively.