Strong graphene oxide nanocomposites from aqueous hybrid liquid crystals
Maruti Hegde (University of North Carolina, TU Delft - Novel Aerospace Materials)
Lin Yang (Brookhaven National Laboratory)
Francesco Vita (Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Renee van de Watering (TU Delft - Education AE)
Ben Norder (TU Delft - ChemE/O&O groep)
Ugo Lafont (TU Delft - Novel Aerospace Materials, European Space Agency (ESA))
Oriano Francescangeli (Università Politecnica delle Marche)
Stephen J. Picken (TU Delft - ChemE/Advanced Soft Matter)
Theo J. Dingemans (TU Delft - Novel Aerospace Materials, University of North Carolina)
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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.
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