posted on 2020-11-25, 07:13authored byKe Shi, Jintao Luo, Xianhua Huan, Song Lin, Xin Liu, Xiaolong Jia, Lei Zu, Qing Cai, Xiaoping Yang
The
challenge for fully exerting the excellent nature of graphene
oxide (GO) within polymer composites was to realize its uniform dispersion
and strong interfacial bonding in the polymer matrix through an efficient
surface reduction approach. In this work, via the in situ activation
effect of microwaves (MWs), a butyl glycidyl ether-modified ionic
liquid (BIL)-GO hybrid was successfully synthesized at an ultrafast
speed by introducing BIL into the two-dimensional lamellar structure
of GO through chemically induced intercalation and noncovalent functions.
Both GO and BIL components of BIL-GO had the positive synergism in
absorbing MWs, which contributed much to enhancing its dispersibility
in the epoxy (EP) matrix as compared with pristine GO. Superior to
GO-filled systems, BIL-GO/EP composites showed lower activation energies
(Ea1 and Ea2 reduced by 11.2 and 17.3%, respectively) over the range of cure
following inside-out solidification modes because of the introduction
of BIL because uniformly dispersed BIL-GO with exfoliated interlayers
acted as trap centers of MWs. Additionally, BIL-GO/EP composites possessed
a 22.1% increase in the strength of the transverse fiber bundle test
over that of GO/EP composites,
indicating better BIL-GO/EP interfacial bonding. The obtained results
manifested that the advantageous effect of BIL through the in situ
activation of MWs was to enhance the interface stress transfer and
form a uniform BIL-GO network, thereby significantly enhancing the
mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties of BIL-GO composites.