Graphene and carbon nanotubes are at the forefront of research in materials science and related fields. The research shows that graphene, carbon nanotubes and their composites have broad application prospects in the fields of electronics, information, energy, materials and biomedicine, and are expected to bring about a new technological revolution in the 21st century.
Carbon nanocomposites mainly include carbon/polymer composites, carbon/nanoparticle composites and carbon/carbon composites. No matter graphene or carbon nanotubes, when preparing related composites, due to their unique small size effect, surface effect and strong van der Waals force, they are extremely prone to self-agglomeration and fail to produce homogeneous composites. On the other hand, due to the hydrophobic and oleophobic properties and chemical inertness of the two surfaces, the interface compatibility with other materials is relatively poor, and the interfacial bonding strength of the composites obtained is relatively low. This requires functional modification, that is, the introduction of heteroatom or heteroatom functional groups into the graphite lattice or surface of nanocarbon materials. Functional modification can modify and modify the electronic structure of carbon atoms in graphite, so as to change its physical and chemical properties and improve the machinability of nano-carbon materials in the preparation of composite materials. At present, many innovative researches on the preparation of graphene and carbon nanotube composites are related to the modification of graphene or carbon nanotubes. Through the modification of graphene or carbon nanotubes, the structure of the composites can be optimized to improve the properties of the composites. The functionalization methods of graphene mainly include covalent bond method and non-covalent bond method. Covalent bond functionalization mainly involves the oxidation treatment of carbon materials, so that a large number of oxygen-containing groups such as epoxy group, carbonyl group, hydroxyl group and carboxyl group are generated on the surface of the materials. As oxygen-containing groups have high reactivity, covalent modification is laid. Then isocyanate, silane coupling agent, organic amine and other reagents were used to react with the oxidized materials to achieve the surface functionalization of carbon materials. Non-covalent bonding functionalization refers to changing the surface properties of carbon materials and improving their dispersibility in water or non-polar solutions by means of polymer encapsulation or physical adsorption. Since polymer encapsulation and physical adsorption have no destructive effect on the inherent structure of graphene or carbon nanotubes, their structure and properties can be maintained to the greatest extent.
Carbon nanocomposites such as graphene and carbon nanotubes have excellent properties and show unique application advantages in many aspects. However, its industrial application is rare at present, the main reason is that the preparation level of related composite materials needs to be further improved. Currently in preparation of composite material is carbon materials subject development faces a big bottleneck, the main distribution related research institutions in China, the United States and India and other countries, guide the collaborative research, related research workers from different aspects, in the process of preparation of relevant laws, is expected to greatly improve the level of its preparation, eventually for graphene, carbon nanotubes and the industrial application of nano carbon materials, such as into People's Daily life to lay the foundation.