Effect of Preparation Methods on the Tensile, Morphology and Solar Energy Conversion Efficiency of RGO/PMMA Nanocomposites

Overview

Journal Polymers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Date 2019 Apr 12

PMID 30970908

Citations 2

Authors

Shin Yiing Kee

Yamuna Munusamy

Kok Seng Ong

Koon Chun Lai

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

In this study, reduced graphene oxide (RGO)/polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) nanocomposites were prepared by employing in situ polymerization and solution blending methods. In terms of mechanical properties, RGO loading increased the Young's modulus but decreased the elongation at break for RGO/PMMA nanocomposites. Tensile strength for solution blended RGO/PMMA nanocomposites increased after adding 0.5 wt % RGO, which was attributed to the good dispersion of RGO in the nanocomposites as evidenced from SEM and TEM. Solar energy conversion efficiency measurement results showed that the optimum concentration of RGO in the RGO/PMMA nanocomposites was found to be 1.0 wt % in order to achieve the maximum solar energy conversion efficiency of 25%. In the present study, the solution blended nanocomposites exhibited better overall properties than in situ polymerized nanocomposites owing to the better dispersion of RGO in solution blending. These findings would contribute to future work in search of higher conversion efficiency using nanocomposites.

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