Effects of graphene oxide aggregates on hydration degree, sorptivity, and tensile splitting strength of cement paste

It has recently been found the graphene oxide (GO) aggregates form in cement paste due to the chemical cross-linking of calcium cations. Therefore, the effects of GO addition on the properties of cement based materials should be dependent on the properties of GO aggregates rather than GO nanosheets. In this study, GO aggregates were first characterized by particle size measurement. Then, the effects of GO aggregates on the degree of hydration, sorptivity, and tensile strength of cement paste were investigated. The aspect ratio of GO aggregates is much larger than that of the original GO nanosheets. Compared to plain cement paste, the increase of non-evaporable water content of the cement paste was found to be very limited, around 1.17% and 3.90% for cement pastes containing 0.02% and 0.04% by weight GO, respectively. The sorptivity of cement paste, especially the secondary sorptivity, was notably reduced for GO incorporated cement paste. The tensile strength was significantly improved by GO aggregates. Incorporation of 0.04% by weight GO increased the tensile strength by 67% compared to that of plain cement paste.