An approach to prepare uniform graphene oxide/aluminum composite powders by simple electrostatic interaction in water/alcohol solution

Abstract

The homogenous dispersion of graphene in Al powders is a key challenge that limits the development of graphene-reinforced metal matrix composites with high performance. Here, uniform distribution of graphene oxide (GO) coated on flake Al powders were obtained by a simply stirring and ultrasonic treatment in the water/alcohol solution. The effect of water volume content on the formation of GO/Al composite powders was investigated. The results showed that GO adsorbed with synchronous reduction on the surface of Al powders, but when the water content was higher than 80% in the solution, Al powders were totally changed into Al(OH)₃. With optimizing the water content of 60% in the solution, reduced GO was homogenously coated onto the surface of flake Al powders. The formation mechanism can be ascribed to the balance control between the liquid/solid interaction and the hydrolysis reaction.

Keywords

graphene / Al powder / composite / morphology / electrostatic interaction

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge financial supports of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51605293), the Shanghai Science and Technology Commission (18060502300), the Program for Associate Professor of Special Appointment (Young Eastern Scholar) at Shanghai Institutions of Higher Learning (QD2016013), the Shanghai Pujiang Program (17PJ1406900), and the Shanghai Chenguang Program (17CG48).

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