Control of surface functionalization of graphene-metal oxide polymer nanocomposites prepared by a hydrothermal method

The study of nanocomposites formed by doping of graphene oxide with a metal and polymer is presented in this paper. The graphene oxide contains oxygenated functional groups, like epoxy, hydroxyl and carboxyl, as shown by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. The existence of these functional groups on the surface of graphene oxide disperses the polymer chain and leads to a good interaction with the metal. The characterization of the prepared nanocomposite was done by X-ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray analysis, FTIR, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results showed that the obtained nanocomposite comprises nano-shaped thin stacked flakes with a well-defined multilayered edge structure. It was also seen that the metal particles were uniformly dispersed on the graphene surface with an average particle size of 1–25 nm. The synthesized nanocomposites can be used for adsorption and degradation of dyes.