Graphene materials in nanocoatings
Posted at: Thursday, 1 December 2011 | Posted by: Prof. Rigoberto Advincula, University of Houston, USA
The next popular nanofiller material that should find its way in nanocomposite applications for coatings should be graphene. This may yet replace the popular nanoclay and carbon nanotube nanofillers. Due to its well-known fast electron transport, excellent mechanical and thermal properties, and very high surface area, graphene has been the subject of intense scientific interest as evidenced by the rapid increase in the number of publications since 2004 - the 2010 Nobel prize winners in Physics.
Another equally important and relatively more processable form of graphene is the graphene oxide (GO), which is being exploited as useful graphene precursor for incorporation into ceramics,metals,and polymers, and is being developed as thin film electronic materials,hydrogen storage devices, anti-bacterial paper, etc. The combination of GO and polymer into composites should have many unique physical properties including improved conductivity and thermal stability particularly of the host polymer. In principle, it can have the properties of both clay and carbon nanotubes due to its platelet shape and electro-optical properties. The issue is dispersion and determining the minimum percolation threshold. The GO can be reduced back to the more conducting graphene form for increased electrical conductivity. Graphenes in coatings is coming!
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