Clay-facilitated aqueous dispersion of graphite and poly(Vinyl alcohol) aerogels filled with binary nanofillers

Lei Liu, Yuxin Wang, Saeed M. Alhassan, Hua Sun, Kyungwho Choi, Choongho Yu, David A. Schiraldi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dispersion of graphite in water was achieved using clay as dispersing aid. In the absence of polymer, the clay/graphite suspensions were sufficiently stable to produce aerogels composed of very thin layers of uniformly dispersed nanoparticles. Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVOH) aerogels containing binary nanofillers (clay plus graphite) were then fabricated and tested. These composites were found to maintain low thermal and electrical conductivities even with high loading of graphite. A unique compressive stress-strain behavior was observed for the aerogel, exhibiting a plateau in the densification region, likely due to sliding between clay and graphite layers within the PVOH matrix. The aerogels containing only graphite exhibited higher compressive modulus, yield stress and toughness values than the samples filled with binary nanofillers. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra for the same composite aerogel before and after compression testing illustrated the compression-induced dispersion changes of nanofillers. Composites containing 50 wt % graphite demonstrated a downshift of its 2D Raman peak implying graphite exfoliation to graphene with less than 5 layers.

Original languageBritish English
Article number8
JournalGels
Volume4
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2018

Keywords

  • Aqueous dispersion
  • Clay
  • Electrical properties
  • Mechanical properties
  • Polymer aerogels

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Clay-facilitated aqueous dispersion of graphite and poly(Vinyl alcohol) aerogels filled with binary nanofillers'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this