Method of covalently bonding a polymer/surface modified graphene nanocomposite

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9745429-B2
Application number	US-201715491246-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 19, 2017
Priority date	Jun 2, 2014
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

A method for forming a blend including graphene nanoparticles and a poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate), where the method includes melt mixing the poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate) and the graphene nanoparticles to obtain a nanocomposite and exposing the nanocomposite to microwave irradiation to bond the methyl methacrylate copolymer to the graphene nanoparticles, in which a content of the graphene nanoparticles is from 0.05 to 2 wt % based on the nanocomposites. A blend composition, including graphene nanoparticles and a poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate), where the graphene nanoparticles are dispersed in the poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate), the graphene nanoparticles are modified with microwave induced defects, and the free radicals of poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate) is bonded to the graphene nanoparticles at the defects.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for forming a blend comprising surface modified graphene nanoparticles and a poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate), the method comprising:
melt blending the poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate) and the surface modified graphene nanoparticles for a time period of from 5 to 20 min to obtain a nanocomposite; and
exposing the nanocomposite to microwave irradiation to covalently bond the styrene-methyl methacrylate copolymer to the surface modified graphene nanoparticles,
wherein a content of the surface modified graphene nanoparticles is from 0.05 to 2 wt % based on a total weight of the nanocomposite.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite is exposed to the microwave irradiation for 2 to 9 minutes.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite is exposed to the microwave irradiation for 3 to 7 minutes.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite is exposed to the microwave irradiation for about 5 minutes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content of the surface modified graphene nanoparticles is from 0.1 to 1.5 wt % based on the total weight of the nanocomposite.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content of the surface modified graphene nanoparticles is about 1 wt % based on the total weight of the nanocomposite.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising
compression molding the P(S-co-MMA)/graphene nanocomposites after the melt blending and before the exposing to microwave irradiation.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite is exposed to microwave irradiation at a frequency of from 2300 to 2600 MHZ.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the nanocomposite is exposed to microwave irradiation at a fixed power of from 900 to 1100 watts.

10. The method of claim 1 , comprising
exposing the nanocomposite to the microwave irradiation in cycles ranging from 40 to 80 seconds, wherein in between the cycles, the nanocomposite is cooled to room temperature for a time period ranging from 100 to 140 seconds.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blend has an intensity level of the D band at 1357 cm −1 ranging from 1800 to 2200 and an intensity of the G band at 1583 cm −1 of from 2000 to 2200.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blend has a storage modulus of from 800 to 1300 MPA at 120° C. and from 1400 to 1800 MPA at 40° C.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the blend has an electrical conductivity of from 1×10 −3 to 2.0×10 −3 S/cm.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface modified graphene nanoparticles are completely exfoliated in the poly(styrene-co-methylmethacrylate) after the irradiation.

Assignees

• Univ King Fahd Pet & Minerals

Inventors

• Al-Harthi Mamdouh Ahmed
• Zubair Mukarram

Classifications

• C08J3/20 Primary

  Compounding polymers with additives, e.g. colouring · CPC title

• B29C35/0805

  using electromagnetic radiation · CPC title

• B29C2035/0855

  using microwave · CPC title

• B29K2033/12

  Polymers of methacrylic acid esters, e.g. PMMA, i.e. polymethylmethacrylate · CPC title

• B29K2025/08

  Copolymers of styrene, e.g. AS or SAN, i.e. acrylonitrile styrene (B29K2055/02 takes precedence) · CPC title