Enhanced dispersibility and thermal stability of β-cyclodextrin functionalized graphene

A series of beta-cyclodextrin (CDs) functionalized graphene nanohybrids have been successfully fabricated utilizing the classical covalent modification methods at different reaction temperatures. It is very interesting that although both CDs and graphene oxide (GO) could be easily decomposed, the effective combination of GO with CDs leads to significantly enhanced thermal stability of graphene derivatives (GO-CDs). Moreover, the introduction of CDs could dramatically improve the dispersibility promotion of our products in both polar/protic and nonpolar/aprotic solvents, which will contribute to the preparation of polymer nanocomposites and increase of their thermal stability. The improved thermal degradation temperatures can be obtained for polyvinyl alcohol after filling with as little as 1 wt.% of the hybrid. The obtained products could be potentially used in heat-retardant or thermal-control materials. (C) 2013 Shu-Peng Zhang and Hai-Ou Song. Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society. All rights reserved.