Catalytic activity of graphite-based nanofillers on cure reaction of epoxy resins

The strong influence of graphite oxide (GO) nanofiller on the glass transition temperature (Tg) of epoxy resins, generally attributed to restricted molecular mobility of the epoxy matrix by the nanofiller or to the crosslinking of GO layers via the epoxy chains, is investigated. The study confirms that large increases of the glass transition temperature of the nanocomposite can be observed in presence of GO. However, similar Tg increases are observed, when the filler is a high-surface-area graphite (HSAG), lacking oxidized groups. Moreover, these Tg differences tend to disappear as a consequence of aging or thermal annealing. These results suggest that the observed Tg increases are mainly due to a catalytic activity of graphitic layers on the crosslinking reaction between the epoxy resin components (epoxide oligomer and di-amine), rather than to reaction of the epoxide groups with functional groups of GO. This hypothesis is supported by investigating the catalytic activity of graphite-based materials on reactions between analogous monofunctional epoxide and amine compounds.