Synergistic effect of cellulose nanocrystals-graphene oxide as an effective nanofiller for enhancing properties of solventless polymer nanocomposites

The solution mixing approach-based cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) decorated graphene oxide (GO) nanohybrids (CNC@GO) was prepared and their effect over on the solventless polymer (SLP) called waterborne epoxy system was analyzed. The as-prepared GO, CNC and CNC@GO were scrutinized by several characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman Analysis, Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) for identifying their quality. The GO-SLP, CNC-SLP and CNC@GO-SLP nanocomposites mechanical and thermal properties were analyzed in detail. The highest tensile strength was observed at the lowest loading content (0.2 wt %) of CNC@GO incorporated SLP nanocomposites, as compared with other (0.2 wt % of (GO-SLP and CNC-SLP)) nanocomposites. Also, the thermo-mechanical analysis of CNC@GO nanohybrids incorporated SLP system exposes a notable improvement in the tan delta and storage modulus values at lower nanofiller concentration (0.2 wt %). The successful decoration of CNC on the GO surface promotes to the uniform dispersion, strong hydrogen bonding and outstanding interaction between the introduced nanofillers within the SLP system which leads to the better results in the mechanical and thermal properties. Besides, it was observed that the numerical simulation responses were in good deal with the laboratory values for both ultimate stress and strain. Thus, the as-prepared nanohybrids could possibly enrich the mechanical and thermal properties of the SLP system.