Macromolecular Rapid Communications
Macromolecular Rapid Communications
5 years ago

Direct Creation of Highly Conductive Laser-Induced Graphene Nanocomposites from Polymer Blends

Direct Creation of Highly Conductive Laser-Induced Graphene Nanocomposites from Polymer Blends
Ahmed Abouelmagd, Ivonne Otero Navas, Uttandaraman Sundararaj, Alireza Zehtab Yazdi
The current state-of-the-art mixing strategies of nanoparticles with insulating polymeric components have only partially utilized the unique electrical conductivity of graphene in nanocomposite systems. Herein, this paper reports a nonmixing method of direct creation of polymer/graphene nanocomposites from polymer blends via laser irradiation. Polycarbonate-laser-induced graphene (PC-LIG) nanocomposite is produced from a PC/polyetherimide (PC/PEI) blend after exposure to commercially available laser scribing with a power of ≈6 W and a speed of ≈2 cm s−1. Extremely high electrical conductivities are obtained for the PC-LIG nanocomposites, ranging from 26 to 400 S m−1, depending on the vol% of the starting PEI phase in the blend. To the authors' knowledge, these conductivity values are at least one order of magnitude higher than the values that are previously reported for conductive polymer/graphene nanocomposites prepared via mixing strategies. The comprehensive microscopy and spectroscopy characterizations reveal a complete graphitization of the PEI phase with columnar microstructure embedded in the PC phase. Highly electrically conductive polymer/graphene nanocomposites are created from polymer blends via CO2 laser irradiation. Polyetherimide is in situ converted into graphene nanosheets with 3D columnar microstructure in the polycarbonate matrix upon exposure to laser.

Publisher URL: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/resolve/doi

DOI: 10.1002/marc.201700176

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