Understanding Graphene Nanoplatelet Composite Alignment

与其他阻隔颜料相比，石墨烯纳米片已被有效地用于展示涂层应用中的阻隔性能，降低了水的渗透率，增强了耐腐蚀性。在敏感电子产品可能需要水或化学保护的新封装技术和电子工业中，改进的阻隔性能的应用具有比腐蚀更重要的意义。纳米小片性能的最大化取决于它们在涂层中的取向，并受到所使用的固化条件的影响。高温固化伴随着粘度和凝胶化的快速增加，可能会增加无序程度，减少石墨烯添加的影响。可以考虑采用不同的配制方法来减轻这些影响，但需要了解环境固化中的对准程度和产生的表面张力和凝胶变化的相对影响。目前，无论是扫描电子显微镜还是透射电子显微镜，都不能提供在不同温度和固化速率下处理薄膜时所看到的排列方式的测量结果。开发一种测量方法来确定石墨烯纳米血小板在薄膜中的取向，将使人们能够了解这个问题，并促进克服所观察到的问题的方法，从而打开这些市场和其他市场(电导率和热导率)，在这些市场中，血小板取向是性能的关键要求。

Graphene nanoplatelets have been used effectively to demonstrate barrier properties in coating applications reducing the level of water penetration enhancing the level of corrosion resistance compared to other barrier pigments. The application of improved barrier properties has importance beyond corrosion in the development of new packaging technologies and electronics industry where sensitive electronics may require water or chemical protection. Maximisation of the performance of the nanoplatelets is dependent on their alignment in the coating and is impacted by the cure conditions used. Elevated temperature curing with associated rapid increase in viscosity and associated gelation is likely to increase the level of disorder, reducing the impact of Graphene addition. Various formulating approaches might be considered to mitigate these effects but an understanding of the degree of alignment and arising in an ambient cure and relative effects of change in surface tension and gelation is required. Currently tools neither Scanning Electron Microscopy nor Transmission Electron Microscopy are able to provide a measure of the alignment seen in processing films at different temperatures and rates of cure. The development of a method of measurement to determine alignment of Graphene nanoplatelets in a film would enable an understanding of this problem and facilitate methods to overcome the observed problem opening these and additional markets (electrical and thermal conductivity ) where platelet alignment is a key requirement of performance.