Preparation and Properties of β-Phase Graphene Oxide/PVDF Composite Films

We report preparation of graphene oxide (GO) from expanded graphite (EG) via a modified Hummers method. GO/PVDF composites films were obtained using solvent N, N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) and cosolvent comprising deionized water/DMF combination. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analyses revealed that the main crystal structure of the composite films is beta-phase, and use cosolvent method tends to favor the formation of beta-phase. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to investigate the microstructure of composite films. Storage modulus and loss modulus were measured by Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA). Broadband dielectric spectrum tests showed an increase in the dielectric constant of the GO/PVDF composite films with the rising content of GO, and by cosolvent method could improve the dielectric constant while reducing the dielectric loss. Our method that uses GO as an additive and deionized water/DMF as the cosolvent provides a promising and low-cost pathway to obtain high dielectric materials. (C) 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.