Bulk Polymer-Derived Ceramic Composites of Graphene Oxide

Chen Shen; Elizabeth Barrios; Lei Zhai

doi:10.1021/acsomega.8b00492

Bulk Polymer-Derived Ceramic Composites of Graphene Oxide

ACS Omega. 2018 Apr 10;3(4):4006-4016. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.8b00492. eCollection 2018 Apr 30.

Authors

Chen Shen^{1

2}, Elizabeth Barrios^{1

2}, Lei Zhai^{1

2

2}

Affiliations

¹ NanoScience Technology Center, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32826, United States.
² Department of Material Science and Engineering and Department of Chemistry, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida 32816, United States.

Abstract

Bulk polymer-derived ceramic (PDC) composites of SiCO with an embedded graphene network were produced using graphene-coated poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) foams as templates. The pyrolysis of green bodies containing cross-linked polysiloxane, PVA foams, and graphene oxide (GO) resulted in the decomposition of PVA foams, compression of GO layers, and formation of graphitic domains adjacent to GO within the SiCO composite, leading to SiCO composites with an embedded graphene network. The SiCO/GO composite, with about 1.5% GO in the ceramic matrix, offered an increase in the electrical conductivity by more than 4 orders of magnitude compared to that of pure SiCO ceramics. Additionally, the unique graphene network in the SiCO demonstrated a drop in the observed thermal conductivity of the composite (∼0.8 W m^-1 K^-1). Young's modulus of the as-fabricated SiCO/GO composites was found to be around 210 MPa, which is notably higher than the reported values for similar composites fabricated from only ceramic precursors and PVA foams. The present approach demonstrates a facile and cost-effective method of producing bulk PDC composites with high electrical conductivity, good thermal stability, and low thermal conductivity.