The synthesis of graphene nanoribbon and its reinforcing effect on poly (vinyl alcohol)

The graphene nanoribbon was prepared from the carbon nanotubes using the chemical approach, and was used for preparing the poly (vinyl alcohol) nanocomposites. It was discovered that the prepared graphene nanoribbon contained a lot of oxygen groups. Due to the presence of these oxygen groups, the nanoribbon could homogeneously disperse in both water and poly (vinly alcohol) matrix. It was also found that there were strong interactions between the graphene nanoribbon and the poly (vinyl alcohol) through hydrogen bonding. The interactions gave rise to the thermal stability of the host polymer. Furthermore, the presence of the nanofiller also resulted in a significant improvement of the mechanical performance of the prepared nanocomposites. The tensile strength and the Young's modulus of the nanocomposite loaded with 2.0 wt% graphene nanoribbon increased by 85.7% and 65.2% respectively. The overall results indicate that the graphene nanoribbon is suitable for preparing high-performance polymer composites.