Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance

Gong, Yang; Yu, Yingchun; Kang, Huixuan; Chen, Xiaohong; Liu, Hao; Zhang, Yue; Sun, Yimeng; Song, Huaihe

doi:10.3390/polym11050777

Open AccessArticle

Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance

by

Yang Gong

,

Yingchun Yu

,

Huixuan Kang

,

Xiaohong Chen

^*,

Hao Liu

,

Yue Zhang

,

Yimeng Sun

and

Huaihe Song

State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering Beijing University of Chemical Technology, No. 15 North Third Ring Road East, Chaoyang District, Beijing 100029, China

^*

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Polymers 2019, 11(5), 777; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11050777

Submission received: 29 December 2018 / Revised: 18 March 2019 / Accepted: 29 March 2019 / Published: 1 May 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymer and Composite Aerogels)

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Abstract

Chitosan, a semi-crystalline biomolecule, has attracted wide attention due to its high synthesis flexibility. In this study, to improve the mechanical properties of chitosan aerogels (CSAs), graphene oxide (GO) was extracted and introduced into chitosan aerogels as fillers. The porous CSAs/GO composite aerogels were fabricated by an environmentally friendly freeze-drying process with different GO contents (0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, wt.%). The characteristics of the CSAs/GO were investigated by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), mechanical measurements and mercury porosimeter. The crystallinity of samples was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The mechanism of the effect of graphene oxide on chitosan was studied by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The results show that the microstructure of the samples is developed in the network structure. The porosity of CSAs/GO aerogels is as high as 87.6%, and the tensile strength of the films increased from 6.60 MPa to 10.56 MPa with the recombination of graphene oxide. The crystallinity (CrI) of composite aerogels increased from 27% to 81%, which indicates that graphene oxide improves the mechanical properties of chitosan by chemical crosslinking.

Keywords: chitosan aerogel; graphene oxide; synthesis process; mechanical performance; crystallinity

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MDPI and ACS Style

Gong, Y.; Yu, Y.; Kang, H.; Chen, X.; Liu, H.; Zhang, Y.; Sun, Y.; Song, H. Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance. Polymers 2019, 11, 777. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11050777

AMA Style

Gong Y, Yu Y, Kang H, Chen X, Liu H, Zhang Y, Sun Y, Song H. Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance. Polymers. 2019; 11(5):777. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11050777

Chicago/Turabian Style

Gong, Yang, Yingchun Yu, Huixuan Kang, Xiaohong Chen, Hao Liu, Yue Zhang, Yimeng Sun, and Huaihe Song. 2019. "Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance" Polymers 11, no. 5: 777. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11050777

APA Style

Gong, Y., Yu, Y., Kang, H., Chen, X., Liu, H., Zhang, Y., Sun, Y., & Song, H. (2019). Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance. Polymers, 11(5), 777. https://doi.org/10.3390/polym11050777

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Synthesis and Characterization of Graphene Oxide/Chitosan Composite Aerogels with High Mechanical Performance

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