Waterborne polyurethane as dispersant for liquid exfoliation of graphite to graphene

Graphene’s extraordinary properties such as high charge carrier mobility, high thermal conductivity, exceptional Young modulus, large spring constant, making it an ideal nanofillers for the production of nanocomposites. However, it is difficult to produce high quality of graphene in large scale. Des...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Loh, Pei Shan
Other Authors: Lu Xuehong
Format: Final Year Project
Language:English
Published: 2016
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10356/66382
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:Graphene’s extraordinary properties such as high charge carrier mobility, high thermal conductivity, exceptional Young modulus, large spring constant, making it an ideal nanofillers for the production of nanocomposites. However, it is difficult to produce high quality of graphene in large scale. Despite the various surfactants used in liquid-phase exfoliation (LPE), little has been done in understanding the effect of each type of surfactant on exfoliation. In this project, high concentration dispersion of graphene using polyurethane as dispersant was produced. Secondly, this high concentration dispersion of graphene was used to prepare PU/graphene nanocomposite. The graphene dispersion and its nanocomposites are characterized using various characterization techniques such as UV-Vis-NIR spectroscopy and transmission electron microscope (TEM).