Electrical enhancement of radiation-vulcanized natural rubber latex added with reduced graphene oxide additives for supercapacitor electrodes

An insulating polymer, radiation vulcanization natural of rubber latex (RVNRL), was successfully converted into electrically conductive nanocomposite by the addition of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) assisted by sodium 1,4-bis(neopentyloxy)-3-(neopentyloxycarbonyl)-1,4-dioxobutane-2-sulfonate (TC14) surfactant. The starting material, graphene oxide (GO), was initially synthesized by electrochemical exfoliation assisted by TC14 surfactant. Then, GO/RVNRL nanocomposite was fabricated by latex technology. For rGO/RVNRL nanocomposite, the synthesized GO was further reduced to rGO using hydrazine hydrate and showed electrical enhancement up to 1.32 × 10−3 S cm−1 compared with GO when composited with RVNRL (8.64 × 10−4 S cm−1). For comparison, rGO/RVNRL nanocomposite assisted by the commercially available surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate was prepared, and its electrical conductivity was found to be 1.79 × 10−5 S cm−1, which was several orders of magnitude lower than those of GO/RVNRL and rGO/RVNRL nanocomposites prepared with TC14 surfactant. C–V measurements taken for TC14-rGO/RVNRL and TC14-GO/RVNRL nanocomposites showed specific capacitances of 95 and 63 F g−1, respectively. The structural properties of nanocomposites were characterized using FESEM, HRTEM, UV–Vis, micro-Raman, XRD, FT-IR spectroscopy, and TGA studies. This study was the first to report on the success of converting the insulator polymer RVNRL into a conductive nanocomposite assisted by TC14 surfactant. The nanocomposite can be a new electrode material for supercapacitor application.