Reduced Graphene Oxide-Poly (Ethylene Oxide)-NaNO3 Composites: Fabrication, Rheological Distributions and Possible Applications

The synthesis of composites via a simple approach is an efficient way to enhance the properties of individuals. This study focuses on the fabrication of a sodium nitrate-based reduced graphene oxide-poly (ethylene oxide) composite using the solution casting method. The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy confirmed the successful complexation of graphene functionalities within the poly (ethylene oxide) polymeric latex. Rheological investigations were carried out at various temperatures, where it was found that temperature has an inverse relation with yield stress, dynamic viscosity, zeta potential, storage, and loss modulus. The ample yield stress (32.7 Pa) and storage modulus (6 × 103 Pa) values suggest high stiffness, good mechanical strength, and excellent storage capability. The maximum ionic conductivity was found to be 6.87 × 10-7 Scm-1 for 6wt % NaNO3- based rGO-PEO composite. Overall, the composite exhibits shear thinning and non-Newtonian behaviors, with the best approximation being the Bingham modified model. results: Characterizations: Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) analysis was carried out in the range of 500-4000 cm-1 by using aIRAffinity-1S Shimadzu Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrophotometer (Shimadzu, Tokyo, Japan). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs were taken by using a JSM-6490 (JEOL, Tokyo, Japan) electron microscope. Rheology measurements were done by using Anton Paar Rheometer Physica MCR 301 (Graz, Austria) having a Peltier temperature control system. All the testing were done for the optimized (6% NaNO3) sample. conclusion: The present study was aimed to investigate the rheological properties of reduced graphene oxide based poly (ethylene oxide) and sodium nitrate composite fabricated via solution casting method. The topological measurements shows the homogeneous distribution of NaNO3 fillers and jelly nature, which gives stiffness and flexibility to rGO-PEO-NaNO3 composite. Rheological measurements were exercised at various temperature in order to evaluate the diverse aspects of the prepared material. In summary, It was found that the dynamic viscosity, mechanical stiffness and storage capacity of the rGO-PEO-NaNO3 composite was drastically decreased with an increase in temperature. It is because of the disruption of the internal structure and weak electrostatic forces among the molecules within the composite. The weakness of electrostatic interaction with temperature could be validating by zeta potential values tabulated in table 1. The synthesized composite showed good storage modulus value (6×103 Pa), materials with such storage capability represent their capacity to store the applied stress and hence could be best suited for applications in mechanically tough membranes and storage devices.