High-yield water-phase exfoliated few-defect graphene for high performance polymer nanocomposites

Application of graphene requires a high-yield, low-cost, scalable production method, but it remains highly challenging. We here report a water-phase technique to produce few-defect graphene nanosheets (FGS) with a high exfoliation yield (92%), based on the chemically expanded graphite with ultrahigh specific surface areas, and demonstrate the application in graphene-polymer nanocomposites. The exfoliated FGS has low degree of oxidation and preserves good mechanical and electrical properties, revealing promising potential for improving comprehensive properties of polymer composites. When 0.5 wt% FGS was incorporated to poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), the 5% weight loss temperature and storage modulus increase by 87°C and 21%, respectively, relative to the neat polymer. With increasing the content of FGS to 4.6 wt%, the glass transition temperature of the composite increases by 25°C. In addition, the composites show a percolation threshold as low as 0.25 vol% and excellent electrical conductivity (50 S/m for 2.7 vol% FGS-PMMA composite).