Improved thermal properties of graphene oxide-incorporated poly(methyl methacrylate) microspheres

초록

Graphene, a single layer of carbon in a two-dimensional lattice, has attracted significant interest as one of the most attractive and potential materials in recent years due to its large surface area and superior electrical, mechanical and thermal properties.[1,2] The outstanding properties of graphene make it suitable for applications in many fields such as field emission devices, transparent flexible electrodes and ultra-sensitive chemical detectors. Graphene oxide (GO) is regarded as a promising precursor for the mass production of graphene. Due to the presence of many functional groups on their surface, GO is a possible composite with polymer.[3] In this study, we successfully prepared GO-incorporated poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) microspheres using a dispersion polymerization with poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP), and 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile. Scanning electron microcopy and transmission electron microcopy images confirmed that the GO synthesized by a Hummers method was coated onto the surface of PMMA microspheres due to the strong ionic interaction between the PVP and GO sheet. The thermal properties of PMMA with various GO contents were analyzed using thermogravimetric analysis, differential scanning calorimetry and thermal conductivity integral method.