Self-healable graphenepolymer composites

Abstract

We report here a simple and scalable process to fabricate graphene shape memory polymer composites. The graphene material was nanolayered graphene synthesized by a microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The free standing nanolayered graphene, in its pristine state, was used as a filler to fabricate epoxy based shape memory polymer composites by (1) direct dispersion in the diamine curing agent; (2) thermal curing with diepoxides. The shape memory properties of the polymer matrix impart a thermal healing capability into the composites, which was greatly enhanced at ultra-low filler contents of 0.0025 and 0.0125 vol%.