Facile preparation of epoxy-based composite with oriented graphite nanosheets

A facile technique was built to fabricate epoxy-based composite film with graphite nanosheets (GN) alignment. GN were coated with magnetite nanoparticles and dispersed ultrasonically in epoxy resin. The homogeneous suspension was then cast on a poly(tetrafluoroethylene) substrate and subjected to an external unidirectional magnetic field before the mixture got solidified. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements showed that the modified GN embedded in epoxy resin were aligned along the magnetic field direction, which was perpendicular to the film plane. The transmittances of the film samples, measured by UV–visible spectrometer, were improved due to the orientation of the GN fillers.