Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Napoleon Ballroom C-D, 3rd fl (Sheraton New Orleans)
Bacterial cellulose (BC) with width of 20-50 nm has three-dimensional network structure. Its excellent physical properties make it apply in parts of artificial skin, high performance diaphragm and ion exchange membrane etc. Graphene with high physical strength, excellent thermal conductivity, fast electron mobility has been widely studied. This study was targeted to make a fused membrane using BC and modified graphene, retaining merits of two materials. BC produced by static culture and graphene of high-purity flower with 3-10 layers were used. Graphene is difficult to chemically combine with BC due to its high hydrophobicity. Therefore the oxygen plasma-treated graphene was employed to improve hydrophilicity. The graphenes were confirmed to be pure by Raman Spectrometer. XPS analysis showed that oxygenization degree in plasma-treated graphene(PG) was higher than in untreated graphene(G). The properties of the fused BC-PG membrane were analyzed by FT-IR, XRD, SEM, TGA, and conductivity. FT-IR analysis showed an enhanced peak of -C=O in BC-PG membrane. By XRD the BC-PG membrane were chemically fused, whereas BC-G membrane with a peak indicating free graphene, and also the fusion was confirmed by SEM images. The results of TGA showed no difference. In addition conductivity analysis of BC-PG showed some enhanced conductivity at lower currents, although a considerable difference was not found between BC and BC-PG. In future if homogeneous dispersions of PG into BC is accomplished successively, a new BC-PG material available in electronic devices like touch screens of transparent conductive film could be developed.