The Effect of Graphene Oxide on Cement Mortar

This paper investigates the effect of water dispersed-and powder Graphene oxide (GO) nanoparticle on fresh cement mortar, microstructure and mechanical strength after 3,7, and 28 days of curing. These properties were studied by treating the cement mortar with 0.03 wt%, 0.05 wt%, and 0.2 wt% GO of the cement weight combined with 0.8wt % polycarboxylate superplasticizer. The results show that the workability decreases as increasing the content of water dispersed GO. The heat of hydration is increased for both types of GO systems. The percent air content in 0.03 wt% and 0.05 wt% GO is almost constant, but increased from 3.2 % to 4.9 % in 0.2 wt% water dispersed GO. The increased air content has effect on poor compaction and workability. GO has the potential of accelerating the hydration process and enhance the early mechanical strength (3 and 7 days), but the workability seems to diminish the mechanical strength after 28 days of curing, particularly for the highest content of water dispersed GO. No distinct influence of GO on the microstructure. The overall results showed that the impact of water dispersed GO was found out to be higher than the powder GO.