On the Strength of Defective Graphene Materials.

Abstract

Graphene is the first 2D material consisting of carbon atoms densely packed into planar structures. Graphene oxide (GO) is the intermediate derivative of chemically-produced graphene, which retains 2D basal plane structures but is also decorated with functional groups along the basal plane and edges. This functionality allows self-assembly of planar sheets into a paper-like material. However, formations of both intrinsic defects within the sheet structures as well as larger scale extrinsic defects in the paper are expected to significantly degrade mechanical performance. Strength provides the most direct evidence of defect related mechanical behaviour and is therefore targeted for understanding defect effects in GO paper. Such evaluations are crucial both from a technological perspective of realizing designed functions and from a fundamental interest in understanding structure-mechanics in 2D nanomaterials. A complete strategy of performing mechanical testing at different length scales is thus reported to provide a comprehensive description of GO strength. Both conventional larger scale mechanical testing as well as novel smaller length scale evaluations, using in situ atomic force microscopy (AFM) combined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and optical microscopy as well as structural probing using synchrotron FT-IR microspectroscopy, were applied to GO materials. Results showed that large structural defects determined mechanical properties of GO papers due to stress concentration effects whereas smaller scale intrinsic effects were defined by interfacial defects and stress concentrations within sheets. Synchrotron FT-IR microspectroscopy provided molecular deformation mechanisms in GO paper, which highlighted the interaction between in-plane C=C and cross-linking C=O bonds. A comprehensive description of macroscopic GO paper using evaluations of strength at the range of length scales studied was attempted, with a good correlation between predictions and experimental observations. This thesis therefore provides a hierarchical understanding of the defects impact on the strength of graphene-based materials from the macroscale to the nanoscale.