Reduced graphene oxide@ceria nanocomposite-coated polymer microspheres as a highly active photocatalyst

Cerium functionalized graphene nano-structures and their applications; A review

Graphene-based nanomaterials with remarkable properties, such as good biocompatibility, strong mechanical strength, and outstanding electrical conductivity, have dramatically shown excellent potential in various applications. Increasing surface area and porosity percentage, improvement of adsorption capacities, reduction of adsorption energy barrier, and also prevention of agglomeration of graphene layers are the main advantages of functionalized graphene nanocomposites. On the other hand, Cerium nanostructures with remarkable properties have received a great deal of attention in a wide range of fields; however, in some cases low conductivity limits their application in different applications. Therefore, the combination of cerium structures and graphene networks has been widely invesitaged to improve properties of the composite. In order to have a comprehensive information of these nanonetworks, this research reviews the recent developments in cerium functionalized graphene derivatives (graphene oxide (GO), reduced graphene oxide (RGO), and graphene quantum dot (GQD) and their industrial applications. The applications of functionalized graphene derivatives have also been successfully summarized. This systematic review study of graphene networks decorated with different structure of Cerium have potential to pave the way for scientific research not only in field of material science but also in fluorescent sensing, electrochemical sensing, supercapacitors, and catalyst as a new candidate.

A study on preparation of modified Graphene Oxide and flame retardancy of polystyrene composite microspheres

In this paper, the ODOPM, a kind of 9, 10-dihydro-9-oxygen-heterooxy-10-phosphoro-10-oxygen (DOPO) derivative, was obtained by hydroxylation of DOPO. Further, a phosphorus nano-flame retardant (GO-ODOPM) was obtained by addition reaction with carboxylated Graphite Oxide (GO-COOH). And then Graphene Oxide/polystyrene (GO-ODOPM/PS) composite microspheres were obtained via suspension polymerization of styrene with GO-ODOPM. The decrease of the peak heat release rate (HRR) and total heat release rate (THR) for the GO-ODOPM/PS composite microspheres was obtained when the content of the additives was only 3.0 wt% is more than 36.2% and 33.6% compared with the pure PS microspheres, respectively. Thermogravimetric (TG), dynamic rheology and carbon residue analysis were used to study the flame-retardant mechanism of GO-ODOPM in PS microspheres. The results revealed that the addition of GO-ODOPM obviously reduced the fire hazard of polystyrene (PS) microspheres. Thus, this work provided a feasible method to design efficient flame retardants for enhancing fire safety of polymers.

Polymer Nanocomposites for Photocatalytic Applications

In the present comprehensive review we have specifically focused on polymer nanocomposites used as photocatalytic materials in fine organic reactions or in organic pollutants degradation. The selection of the polymer substrates for the immobilization of the active catalyst particles is motivated by several advantages displayed by them, such as: Environmental stability, chemical inertness and resistance to ultraviolet radiations, mechanical stability, low prices and ease availability. Additionally, the use of polymer nanocomposites as photocatalysts offers the possibility of a facile separation and reuse of the materials, eliminating thus the post-treatment separation processes and implicitly reducing the costs of the procedure. This review covers the polymer-based photocatalytic materials containing the most popular inorganic nanoparticles with good catalytic performance under UV or visible light, namely TiO2, ZnO, CeO2, or plasmonic (Ag, Au, Pt, Pd) NPs. The study is mainly targeted on the preparation, photocatalytic activity, strategies directed toward the increase of photocatalytic efficiency under visible light and reuse of the hybrid polymer catalysts.