The preparation of high performance and conductive poly (vinyl alcohol)/graphene nanocomposite via reducing graphite oxide with sodium hydrosulfite

Sodium hydrosulfite is used to reduce graphite oxide in current study. The preparation of poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/graphene nanocomposites is realized using two simple steps: the synthesis of PVA/graphite oxide (GO) nanocomposites film and immersion of such a film in the reducing agent aqueous solution. This method prohibits the agglomeration of GO during direct reduction in PVA/GO aqueous solution, and opens a new way to scale up the production of graphene nanocomposites using a simple reducing agent. A 40% increase in tensile strength and 70% improvement in elongation at break have been obtained with only the addition of 0.7 wt.% of reduced graphite oxide. Furthermore, a good level of conductivity and a variation in the surface property of the prepared films have been observed for the composites containing graphene.