The Electrical Performance And Conductive Network Of Reduced Graphene Oxide-Coated Ultra-High-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene Fibers Through Electrostatic Interaction And Covalent Bonding

In this work, methods for reactive coating with graphene (method A and B) are performed to demonstrate feasible ways to functionalize ultra-high-molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers. First, fiber surfaces were polarized by polydopamine (PDA) with amino and hydroxyl groups. In method A, a benchmark method, polarized fibers were dipped into graphene oxide (GO) suspensions for multiple (e.g., eight) cycles to absorb GO, which was then reduced into graphene on fiber surface. In method B, dipping operations were repeated for the same number of cycles, but treatment using 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APS) was applied to induce reactions between the hydroxyl groups and APS, followed by the same reduction treatment. Compared with method A, method B generated fibers with improved and durable surface electric resistance (10(4) omega cm(-1)). The surface morphology and formation of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) conductive networks of the two methods were analyzed. Results indicated that increasing content and the uniform distribution of rGO are beneficial to obtain a conductive network with low and durable surface electric resistance. This deduction was confirmed by loading amounts of rGO and AFM results. (c) 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2020, 137, 48946.