Constructing Oriented Two-Dimensional Large-Sized Modified Graphene Oxide Barrier Walls in Brominated Butyl Rubber to Achieve Excellent Gas Barrier Properties

Brominated butyl rubber (BIIR) is widely used as tire lining, medical sealing material, and so on, due to its merits like high strength, low permeability, and high vulcanization activity. However, the gas barrier properties of BIIR need to be improved further to meet the requirements of certain special conditions such as high pressure (aircraft tire: 1.5 MPa). In this work, oriented two-dimensional (2D) large-sized modified graphene oxide (mGO) barrier walls in BIIR are successfully constructed based on the following processes: three-dimensional (3D) large-sized mGO hollow spherical shells in BIIR matrix are achieved from the core (water)-shell (mGO) structure in BIIR solution, which is obtained through the Pickering emulsion template method, and then are pressed into oriented 2D large-sized mGO barrier walls in the BIIR matrix. Such oriented 2D large-sized mGO barrier walls not only have an extremely large size between 50 and 120 μm but also are aligned perpendicular to the gas diffusion direction. Thus, even only with 0.7 wt % mGO, the nitrogen permeability of the BIIR composite is reduced by 91% relative to pristine BIIR and by 40% relative to the comparing sample with small mGO sheets. Therefore, this work provides a route to regulate the distribution of GO and thus can be a useful reference to fabricate rubber composites with superior gas barrier properties.