Enhanced mechanical and thermal properties of SBR composites by introducing graphene oxide nanosheets decorated with silica particles

Synergistic enhancement of fillers in the polymer matrix has emerged as a subject of scientific and industrial interest. A hybrid with the silica decorating on GO surface (SiO2@GO) was fabricated by an electrostatic self-assembly method, and its morphology, structure and composition were characterized. GO, silica, silica/GO mixture (SiO2-GO), and SiO2@GO were separately filled in styrene-butadiene rubber (SBR) to obtain composites. SBR/SiO2@GO (100/20) composite exhibited the best performance, and its tensile strength increased by 308% compared with that of SBR. This is due to SiO2@GO was uniformly embedded in the SBR matrix brought by the synergistic dispersion of silica and GO. SiO2@GO acted as the barrier in SBR composites, and increased the temperature at 50% weight loss for SBR/SiO2@GO (100/20) by 13.1 °C compared to SBR. Anchoring silica on GO surface is an effective way to develop various high-performance rubber composite materials with good potential in industrial applications.