Precisely controlled growth of poly(ethyl acrylate) chains on graphene oxide and the formation of layered structure with improved mechanical properties

A biologically inspired, multilayer laminate structural design is realized by using hybrid films of poly(ethyl acrylate) (PEA) graft graphene oxide (GO) synthesized by Ce(IV)/HNO3 redox system in aqueous solution. Due to the moderate activity of ethyl acrylate (EA) monomers, the added amount of monomers exhibits a linear relationship with the grafted content of PEA on the GO surface. This indicates that the grafting process of PEA chains on the GO surface is well-controlled. Then, hybrid films with layered structures are fabricated by the vacuum-assisted filtration macroscopic assembly method, and the mechanical properties of the formed hybrid structures are investigated. The fracture stress of the film are significant improved to 83.92 MPa with even a low content of PEA (3.46 wt%). The mechanism of the enhanced mechanical property is related to its unique composite microstructures similar to the brick-and-mortar system in natural nacre.