Ruben Sanchez-Hidalgo

Conventional carbon fiber-reinforced plastics (CFRP) have extensively been used as structural elements in a myriad of sectors due to their superior mechanical properties, low weight and ease of processing. However, the relatively weak compression and interlaminar properties of these composites limit their applications. Interest is, therefore, growing in the development of hierarchical or multiscale composites, in which, a nanoscale filler reinforcement is utilized to alleviate the existing limitations associated with the matrix-dominated properties. In this work, the fabrication and characterization of hierarchical composites are analyzed through the inclusion of graphene to conventional CFRP by vacuum-assisted resin infusion molding.

Multifunctional elastomer nanocomposites have been applied in several high-tech fields. The design of materials with tailored properties capable of tuning their performance is a topical challenge. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to modulate the mechanical and transport properties of silicone rubber nanocomposites by controlling the structure, chemical composition and morphology of the graphene material. Intrinsic graphene properties, such as remaining oxygen groups, specific surface area, and aspect ratio, among others, have a profound effect on the final properties of the nanocomposite. Thus, the thermal conductivity benefits from larger filler size and high aromatic restoration. Whereas mechanical properties and electrical conductivity require a proper balance between filler/polymer matrix interaction and a partial aromatic restoration.

Over the past decades, the development of high performance lightweight polymer nanocomposites and, in particular, of epoxy nanocomposites has become one the greatest challenges in material science. The ultimate goal of epoxy nanocomposites is to extrapolate the exceptional intrinsic properties of the nanoparticles to the bulk matrix. However, in spite of the efforts, this objective is still to be attained at commercially attractive scales. Key aspects to achieve this are ultimately the full understanding of network structure, the dispersion degree of the nanoparticles, the interfacial adhesion at the phase boundaries and the control of the localization and orientation of the nanoparticles in the epoxy system. In this Personal Account, we critically discuss the state of the art and evaluate the strategies to overcome these barriers.

We synthesized graphene oxide sheets of different functionalization by oxidation of two different starting materials, graphite and GANF nanofibers, followed by purification based on alkaline washing. The chemical structure of graphene oxide materials was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and the nanoplatelets were characterized by ζ potential and dynamic light scattering (DLS) measurements. The XPS results indicated that the chemical structure depends on the starting material. Two different deposition methodologies, Langmuir–Blodgett (LB) and Langmuir–Schaefer (LS), were employed to build the graphene oxide thin films. The film morphology was analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The SEM images allow us to conclude that the LB methodology provides the highest coverage. This coverage is almost independent of the chemical composition of sheets. Conversely, the coverage obtained by the LS methodology increases with the percentage of C–O groups attached to sheets. Surface–pressure isotherms of these materials were interpreted according to the Volmer model.