Polymer/Graphene oxide nanocomposites: Effect of the interfacial interactions on the structure and properties.

Polymer nanohybrids with enhanced properties can be developed via the addition of nanosized additives to the polymer matrix. In this work, nanohybrids of either linear or hyperbranched polymers and graphene oxide (GO) of varying degree of oxidation are developed to investigate the effect of the different hydrophilicity of the filler on the final structure and properties of the nanohybrids. Additives with different degree of oxidation were attained by altering either the reaction time or the amount of the oxidation medium during oxidation of graphite. The obtained GOs were characterized with X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) and were consequently, mixed with poly(ethylene oxide), PEO, or Hyperbranced Polymers (HBPs). A plethora of experimental techniques was utilized to investigate the hybrids structure, morphology as well as their thermal and rheological properties. Molecular Dynamics simulations were utilized to predict and interpret the behavior of both the GO additives and the nanocomposites and to assist in correlating the obtained structure with the observed properties. This research has been co-financed by Greece and EU (POLYGRAPH, MIS: 5050562).