Photo-crosslinked polymer networks based on graphene-functionalized soybean oil and their properties

The increasing importance of products which are sustainable and eco-friendly drives the scientific community to develop materials derived from bio-based and agricultural feedstock. With the same motivation, we have developed acrylated epoxidized soybean oil (AESO)-based composite with functionalized graphene or graphene oxide using UV curing technique. Graphene and graphene oxide were chemically functionalized with 3-methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane and 4,4′-diphenylmethanediisocyanate/hydroxyl ethyl acrylate, respectively, and used as filler in the AESO matrix. Infra-red and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy confirmed the functionalization of graphene and graphene oxide along with formation of polymer network in composite. Functionalization of graphene and graphene oxide was found to be effective in enhancing homogeneous dispersion into the polymer matrix, which ultimately improved mechanical properties of base polymer (~48% increase in tensile strength with 0.02% addition of functionalized graphene). On the other hand, AESO composite with graphene and graphene oxide without functionalization exhibited lower tensile strengths. The functionalization of graphene and graphene oxide and incorporation of the same in the polymer network using UV curing technique provides a realistic and effective methodology to obtain high performance composite for several applications.