Dichlorobenzene: an effective solvent for epoxy/graphene nanocomposites preparation.

It is generally recognized that dimethylformamide (DMF) and ethanol are good media to uniformly disperse graphene, and therefore have been used widely in the preparation of epoxy/graphene nanocomposites. However, as a solvent to disperse graphene, dichlorobenzene (DCB) has not been fully realized by the polymer community. Owing to high values of the dispersion component () of the Hildebrand solubility parameter, DCB is considered as a suitable solvent for homogeneous graphene dispersion.

N,N-Dimethylformamide (DMF) Usage in Epoxy/Graphene Nanocomposites: Problems Associated with Reaggregation.

DMF is one the most commonly-used solvents for preparing graphene nanocomposites. Various processing variables for DMF are being used for the preparation of epoxy/graphene nanocomposites. Whilst the emphasis of all of these reported studies are on the improvements in mechanical, and other properties, of the epoxy/graphene nanocomposites, there is no study investigating how DMF affects the processing and how it is associated with the final properties of the nanocomposites.