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The excellent properties of graphene promote it as an ideal reinforcement in composites. However, dispersing graphene homogenously into metals is a key challenge that limits the development of high-performance graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites. Here, via simple electrostatic interaction between graphene oxide (GO) and Al flakes, uniform distribution of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) in an Al matrix is achieved. The adsorption process of GO on Al flakes is efficient, as it can be completed in minutes and proceeds spontaneously without any chemical agents. GO can be partially reduced by the electron interchange during the adsorption process and could be thoroughly reduced after subsequent thermal annealing. A densified RGO/Al composite can be obtained by hot pressing the RGO/Al composite powders. By employing the preceding fabrication process, a composite reinforced with only 0.3 wt.% of RGO shows an 18 and 17% increase in elastic modulus and hardness, respectively, over unreinforced Al, demonstrating RGO is a better reinforcement than most other reinforcements.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.