Novel functional graphene and its thermodynamic interfacial localization in biphasic polyolefin systems for advanced lightweight applications

Abstract The need of decreasing cost and weight of polymeric materials for emerging engineering applications, by keeping the level of performance high, has been drastically increasing among industries. In this study, a new and advanced lightweight Polyethylene (PE) based biphasic system, with performance exceeding the ones of virgin PP, has been disclosed. After proposing a novel graphene composition, achieved by Graphene Oxide (GO) functionalization and reduction, along with Maleic Anhydride Polypropylene (MAPP) grafting, a thermodynamically driven mixing mechanism was employed to fully localize the functional graphene at the interface of a PE based PE/PP macro-micro biphasic system. Following this, a detailed analysis of morphological attributes, through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), revealed that the highly exfoliated graphitic co-factor, by being homogeneously distributed at the PE/PP interface, promoted a remarkably fine dispersion of the minor phase into the matrix, leading to a significant enhancement in strength, stiffness and toughness, with respect to the unmodified binary system, exceeding virgin PP mechanical properties. These findings open new avenues for the manufacturing of advanced lightweight polyolefin materials with tuned functionalities, which, being cost-effective and high-performance, will bring a paradigm shift in the engineering applications of an abundant synthetic polymeric molecule.