Green synthesis of Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGNO) / Polyvinylchloride (PVC) composites and their structural characterization

Abstract

Graphene and graphene derivatives are widely used as fillers for polymer composite materials. The Reduced Graphene Oxide (RGNO) is usually considered as one kind of chemically derived graphene, just like Graphene Oxide (GO). However, very dangerous chemicals are used for synthesis of RGNO. Specially, hydrazine hydrate used to form RGNO is highly toxic and unstable. In this paper, a green strategy was reported for the synthesis of RGNO. To this aim, firstly GO was prepared from natural graphite by Hummers method and then obtained GO was reduced by vitamin C. Structural characterization results revealed that GO was successfully reduced to RGNO. RGNO filled polyvinylchloride (PVC) composites were prepared by colloidal blending method. The structural changes were observed in RGNO/PVC composites as a function of RGNO loading and confirmed by FTIR, XRD and SEM analyses. These analyses indicated that RGNO layers were fully exfoliated and well-dispersed in the PVC matrix.