Synthesis and Characterization of Functionalized Epoxy/SiO2 Hybrid with Graphene Oxide Nanosheets

Nanocomposites were prepared and characterized with a functionalized epoxy resin hybrid (REF) with SiO2 nanoparticles, synthesized by the in-situ sol-gel process, and graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets. The epoxy resin is synthesized with bisphenol A and epichlorohydrin for its subsequent functionalization with abietic acid, providing –OH groups having a greater number of active chemical sites on the surface so that they can join with the SiO2 particles synthesized in situ from TEOS and modified-Hummers GO. The nanocomposites were prepared with REF and a solution of TEOS 40 v/v%; to this hybrid material (HREF), two concentrations of GO at 1 wt% (HREF1) and 5 wt% (HREF5) were added. All materials were characterized by spectroscopic techniques FT-IR and Raman: showing groups -(COOH) from abietic acid, silanol -OH, which will bond with the same groups in the GO sheets. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) revealed that SiO2 nanoparticles decorated the basal plane of GO by covalent bonding TGA, increasing the thermal stability at 50 oC, HREF5 being the material with the highest degradation temperature. A homogeneous dispersion of SiO2/GO decorated sheets in the functionalized epoxy was studied using the SEM technique, with HREF1 as the most homogeneous. ASTM D2369 establishes that volatile organic content should not surpass 3.4 g/mL, and the materials prepared have only 0.23 g/mL, which marks the first step to achieve real applications in several industries.