A novel strategy for making poly(vinyl alcohol)/reduced graphite oxide nanocomposites by solvothermal reduction

•A new strategy was proposed to make PVA/rGO composites by solvothermal reduction.•The solvent acted not only as a reducing agent but also as a good stabilizer.•The homogeneous dispersion of rGO sheets in the PVA matrix was achieved.•The crystallinity of PVA/rGO nanocomposites was investigated.•Mechanical properties and thermal stability were greatly improved by adding rGO.

Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/reduced graphite oxide (rGO) nanocomposites were synthesized by solvothermal reduction of graphite oxide (GO) in the presence of PVA. The solvent, the mixed dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-dimethylformamide (DMF), could act not only as a reducing agent but also as a good stabilizer, which achieved effectively reduction of GO in the PVA matrix and avoided the agglomeration of rGO during reduction. A 53.0% increase in tensile strength and 52.6% improvement of Young’s modulus were achieved by addition of 3 wt% of rGO. Furthermore, a significant improvement of thermal stability was observed for the PVA/rGO nanocomposites.