Surface properties of graphene oxide reinforced polyvinyl chloride nanocomposites

Graphene derivatives are intensively used as high performance nano fillers for the fabrication of polymer nanocomposites. The challenge is to achieve significant improvement in interfacial adhesion between polymer matrix and reinforcing filler. In the present work, we report the preparation of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) /Graphene Oxide (GO) composite by the colloidal blending method. PVC/GO composite films were further studied using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and polarized optical microscopy (POM). The effect of GO loading on wettability of PVC/GO composites films were studied by measuring contact angle of composites films. Optical microscopy reveals that GO have been dispersed homogeneously throughout the PVC matrix. From morphological studies, a network of a denser stacking and randomly aggregate structure having rough surface was observed as a function of GO loading. The values of contact angle decrease with respect to GO loading for all the liquids used. The solid surface energy (SE) of composite films was estimated using contact angle measurements. The surface energies were measured and compared using Fowke’s and Good-Grifalco methods with respect to four different liquids having a wider range of surface tensions (44≤ lv ≤ 72. 8 mJ/m²). The composite film surfaces were tuned by controlling incorporation of GO in order to optimize the surface roughness.