Polyethylene/reduced graphite oxide nanocomposites with improved morphology and conductivity

Abstract

The use of graphite and polyolefins as starting materials to prepare nanocomposites is convenient because both are inexpensive and have very different properties, one is conductive and the other is insulating. The formation of nanocomposites can extend the applicability of both commodities. In this work we synthesized nanocomposites of polyethylene (PE) with two types of graphites, graphite oxide (GO) and reduced graphite oxide (RGO), by in situ polymerization using a supported metallocene catalyst. The functional groups on the graphites were used to support the metallocene catalyst by a previous treatment with methylaluminoxane. The nanocomposites were obtained with good catalytic activities and presented excellent morphology and dispersion; their elastic modulus and crystallization temperatures were higher than those of neat PE. However, the nanocomposites PEGO were insulant, whereas PERGO had a conductivity of 1.1 x 10(-5) S cm(-1) with 3.1 wt% filler. This is a significant result compared to the conductivity obtained using non-supported graphite nanosheets where more than 15 wt% of graphite nanosheets are needed to obtain conductivities higher than 10(-7) S cm(-1). This improvement in the percolation threshold was attributed to the good morphology of the PERGO nanocomposites obtained due to the control of the graphitic sheets and the support methodology.