Improving functional and environmental performance of Portland cement-based materials by graphene nanostructures

Nanoparticles can accelerate cement hydration due to their high activity compacting microstructure, and consequently increase the strength. For the industrial production of concrete modified with nanoscale particles, it is necessary to develop an environmentally friendly and cheap technology for the industrial production of nanoparticles. The article presents the results of increasing the operational characteristics of concrete by adding graphene nanostructures obtained by liquid-phase shear exfoliation of graphite. This environmentally friendly technology requires energy costs, at least ten times less than technologies that use ultrasonic treatment of the suspension. Our industrial partner set a specific task: to find the minimum concentration of graphene structures in relation to cement, at which the compressive strength of cement-sand mix increases by 30%. It was experimentally established that at concentrations of graphene nanostructures with respect to cement not more than 0.02%, the compressive strength increases by at least 30%.