Facile Fabrication of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Edge-Selectively Oxidized Graphene Composite Fibers

Graphene derivatives are effective nanofillers for the enhancement of the matrix mechanical properties; nonetheless, graphene oxide (GO), reduced GO, and exfoliated graphene all present distinct advantages and disadvantages. In this study, polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite fibers have been prepared using a recently reported graphene derivative, i.e., edge-selectively oxidized graphene (EOG). The PVA/EOG composite fibers were simply fabricated via conventional wet-spinning methods; thus, they can be produced at the commercial level. X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and two-dimensional wide-angle X-ray scattering analyses were conducted to evaluate the EOG dispersibility and alignment in the PVA matrix. The tensile strength of the PVA/EOG composite fibers was 631.4 MPa at an EOG concentration of 0.3 wt %, which is 31.4% higher compared with PVA-only fibers (480.6 MPa); compared with PVA composite fibers made with GO, which is the most famous water-dispersible graphene derivative, the proposed PVA/EOG ones exhibited about 10% higher tensile strength. Therefore, EOG can be considered an effective nanofiller to enhance the strength of PVA fibers without additional thermal or chemical reduction processes.