Ricerc@Sapienza

Recently, graphene-polymer composites gained a central role in advanced stress and strain sensing. A fundamental step in the production of epoxy-composites filled with graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) consists in the exfoliation and dispersion of expanded graphite in a proper solvent, in the mixing of the resulting GNP suspension with the polymer matrix, and in the final removal of the solvent from the composite before curing through evaporation.

Development of polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) film composite filled with carbon-based nanomaterials is attracting considerable attention in engineering applications. Numerous studies focus on the enhancement of PVDF properties by adding chemically modified graphene oxide or functionalized carbon nanotubes, or by modifying the polymer chains. On the other hand, in this paper we investigate the nucleation effect of graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs) on morphology and structure of PVDF, without any chemical modification or functionalization either of the GNPs or of the polymer chains.