A new strategy to grow polymer brush on graphene oxide surface through microwave assisted polymer synthesis

Herein, we report a method for growing polymers directly from the surface of graphene oxide (GPO). In this method, surface-initiated, microwave irradiation supported polymerization of benzyl chloride carrying vinylates was carried out from the surface of graphene oxide (GPO) for tailoring surface properties of GPO. This synthetic method consists of two important steps: first, the graphene was converted into GPO, then vinylbenzyl chloride (VBC) was polymerized on the surface of GPO by microwave induced irradiation polymerization. The structure and properties of the resultant polymeric conjugates were characterized by a range of characterization techniques viz.: Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The FT-IR analysis of polymeric conjugates shows infrared (IR) peaks characteristic of VBC on the surface of GPO. TGA reveals enhanced thermal stability for GPO surface polymerized with VBC. EDX and XPS analysis shows signal corresponding to the chloride with reduction in oxygen percentage and increase in carbon percentage. SEM and TEM images visually show the presence of PVBC polymer layer on GPO surface.