title: Designer stabilizer for preparation of pristine graphene/polysiloxane films and networks.
abstract: A conductive polymer film containing pristine graphene was prepared by designing a polysiloxane-based stabilizer for graphene. The stabilizer was prepared by grafting 1-ethynylpyrene to the backbone of a poly(dimethylsiloxane)-co-(methylhydrosiloxane) (PDMS-PHMS) random copolymer by Pt-catalyzed hydrosilylation with a SiH-ethynyl ratio of 1.0 : 1.3. The resulting copolymer was able to stabilize pristine graphene in chloroform solution viaπ-π interactions between the pyrene groups and graphene sheets. TEM and SEM images show a homogeneous distribution of the graphene in cast films deposited from chloroform. The conductivity of a graphene/PDMS film prepared from copolymer with a 1.7 vol.% graphene loading was measured as 220 S m(-1) after the removal of unbound polymer by a simple separation technique. With a SiH-ethynyl ratio of 1.7 : 1.0, the copolymer self-crosslinked at 110 °C in the presence of adventitious moisture, providing a straightforward route to incorporate graphene into silicone elastomers. The crosslinking process (with and without added graphene) was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy and by swelling and extraction of the obtained networks. Again, unbound polymer removal increases the conductivity of the composite.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA. ronald.hedden@ttu.edu micah.green@tamu.edu.
authors.forename: Dorsa
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Parviz
authors.forename: Ziniu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Ronald C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Hedden
authors.forename: Micah J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Green