Preparation of Highly Dispersed Graphene and Its Effect on the Mechanical Properties and Microstructures of Geopolymer
Publication: Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32, Issue 11
Abstract
The dispersibility of graphene is one of the determining factors which affect its efficacy in practice. In the present work, highly dispersed graphene [namely, titanium dioxide ()-reduced graphene oxide (RGO) nanocomposites] was fabricated by a novel intercalation method to the RGO. Such a highly dispersed graphene with a marginal doping amount of the solid aluminosilicate precursors (i.e., 0.01% and 0.02% by weight of geopolymer paste) was used to modify geopolymer pastes. Experimental results showed that such -RGO nanocomposites can effectively improve mechanical properties of geopolymer matrix, especially the flexural strength, which increased 85%–125% with 0.02% by weight graphene. The graphene enabled the reduction of concentrated stress, which prevents the development of cracks in geopolymer matrix. Compared with the control specimens, the graphene-modified geopolymers are more compact and denser due to the refined pore structures of graphene/geopolymer composites, which is confirmed by the scanning electron microscopy and mercury intrusion porosimetry results.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 51978354), the major program of Shandong province (GG201809170147), and the open fund of the Key Laboratory of Large Structure Health Monitoring and Control (KLLSHMC1906). The first author would also like to acknowledge the fellowship support received from the Tai Shan Scholar Programme, QingChuang technology plan of Shandong provincial institutions.
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Published In
Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering
Volume 32 • Issue 11 • November 2020
Copyright
© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Oct 24, 2019
Accepted: Apr 29, 2020
Published online: Aug 21, 2020
Published in print: Nov 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Jan 21, 2021
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