Thermal, Mechanical, and Electrical Properties of Graphene Nanoplatelet/Graphene Oxide/Polyurethane Hybrid Nanocomposite

Hybrid nanocomposites of polyurethane (PU) were prepared by in-situ polymerization of 4,4'-diphenyl methane diisocyanate (MDI) with mixture of graphene oxide (GO) and graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) dispersed in a poly(tetramethylene ether glycol) (PTMEG). Effects of the fillers, GO and GNP, on the thermal, mechanical, and electrical properties of the nanocomposites of PU were investigated. Sonication of the hybrid of GNP and GO with PTMEG enabled effective dispersion of the fillers in the solution than the sonication of GNP alone. The addition of PTMEG in the solution prevented the GNPs from the restacking during the drying process. It was observed that the electrical conductivity and mechanical property of the nanocomposites based on the hybrid of GO and GNP were superior to the nanocomposite based on GNP alone at the same loading of the filler. At the loading of the 3 wt% hybrid filler in PU, we observed the improvement of Young's modulus similar to 200% and the surface resistivity of 10(9.5) ohm/sq without sacrificing the elongation at break.