Uniaxial drawing of poly(vinyl alcohol)/graphene oxide nanocomposites

The unique potential of graphene oxide (GO) was exploited in the nanocomposites by a simple uniaxial drawing (up to three times) of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/GO nanocomposites with a small amount loading of GO. From X-ray diffraction images, the PVA crystallites were found to be oriented parallel to the drawn direction. At the same time, exfoliated GO platelets were found to be aligned parallel to the film surface. Compared with the properties of the as-cast nanocomposites, those of the uniaxially drawn nanocomposites were found to be remarkably enhanced. For the mechanical properties, not only Young’s modulus and tensile strength but also the toughness of the nanocomposites increased by the uniaxial drawing. It was revealed that 260% increase in toughness was achieved for the drawn nanocomposite with 1% w/w GO loading. Significant suppression of the swelling in water resulted in the excellent barrier properties against water, which exceeded that of the conventional high-barrier polymer, such as poly(vinylidene chloride). We revealed that this simple, fast and environmentally friendly process of uniaxial drawing exploits the excellent properties and high aspect ratio of GO in the nanocomposites.