湿法改性石墨烯在制备橡胶复合材料中的应用

Applications of Wet-Functionalized Graphene in Rubber Composites

橡胶由于其高弹性、良好的生物相容性、耐化学腐蚀及长期使用的稳定性等优点,在众多领域已有一百多年的应用历史。一般来说,在生胶硫化之前需要加入增强填料、润滑剂、偶联剂和促进剂等各类添加剂,以达到使用要求的性能。其中增强填料起到提高橡胶强度、提高橡胶耐磨耐热性、延长橡胶使用寿命的作用。相比于炭黑或者二氧化硅这些传统增强填料,新兴纳米材料石墨烯由于其优异的性能,只需极少量便可使橡胶的性能显著增强。然而,石墨烯片层之间的范德华力严重的阻碍了其在高分子机体内的分散,其在橡胶基体的分散性直接决定了石墨烯对于橡胶材料的增强效果。近年来,越来越多的研究开始关注通过在溶液中的湿法改性,包括物理或化学的方法来改性石墨烯,促进它与橡胶二者界面的相互作用,提高石墨烯在橡胶基体中的分散效果。本文总结了近几年湿法改性石墨烯在制备石墨烯/橡胶复合材料方面的研究进展。

Vulcanized rubber products have been applied in various fields for more than 100 years, due to their high elasticity, good biological compatibility, chemical resistance, long-time use stability, etc. Additives like reinforcing filler, lubricant, coupling agent, and accelerating agent, are necessary to be mixed with the raw rubber to give the rubber certain properties. Specifically, the rein-forcing filler plays the role of enhancing the mechanical strength, abrasive and thermal resistance, as well as prolonging the service life of the rubber. Compared with the traditional reinforcing fillers like carbon black and fumed silica, the graphene, a newly emerging nanomaterial, can reinforce the rubber properties with very small incorporation amount, due to its superior properties. However, the strong van der Vaals force amongst graphene sheets seriously inhibits its dispersion in the rubber. Meanwhile, the dispersion state of the graphene in silicone rubber matrix directly influences the reinforcing effect of the graphene. In recent years, many researchers focus on the functionalization method of the graphene, physically or chemically, to enhance the dispersion of the graphene in rubber matrix, and the interfacial interactions between graphene and rubber. The recent advances in the wet functionalization approaches conducted to the graphene and the applications of the functional graphene in fabricating rubber composites are discussed.