Reduced graphene oxide dispersed in copper matrix composites: Facile preparation and enhanced mechanical properties

This work demonstrated a facile method to highly improve the mechanical properties of the reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/Cu composites. The RGO/Cu hybrid powders were successfully synthesized through a one‐step thermal reaction of glycine, copper nitrate, and GO mixture. After sintered by spark plasma sintering, the resulting RGO/Cu composite exhibited the RGO sheets uniformly distributed and well bonded with Cu matrix coupled with the restoration of graphene defects. Specially, X‐ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) analysis revealed the formation of covalent COCu bond between RGO and Cu in RGO/Cu powders, and this oxygen‐coordinated bond still retained in the sintered RGO/Cu composite. Tensile measurements indicated that the RGO/Cu composite with 0.6 wt.% RGO showed a 75.8% enhancement in yield strength while simultaneously maintained a 29% of elongation. These findings will be helpful for the design and development of the RGO/Cu composites with enhanced mechanical properties.