Synergistic effect of cellulose nanocrystals-graphene oxide as an effective nanofiller for enhancing properties of solventless polymer nanocomposites

The solution mixing approach-based cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs) decorated graphene oxide (GO) nanohybrids (CNC@GO) was prepared and their effect over on the solventless polymer (SLP) called waterborne epoxy system was analyzed. The as-prepared GO, CNC and CNC@GO were scrutinized by several characterization techniques such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Raman Analysis, Fourier transform infra-red (FT-IR), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) for identifying their quality. The GO-SLP, CNC-SLP and CNC@GO-SLP nanocomposites mechanical and thermal properties were analyzed in detail. The highest tensile strength was observed at the lowest loading content (0.2 wt. %) of CNC@GO incorporated SLP nanocomposites, as compared with other (0.2 wt. % of (GO-SLP and CNC-SLP)) nanocomposites. Also, the thermo-mechanical analysis of CNC@GO nanohybrids incorporated SLP system exposes a notable improvement in the tan delta and storage modulus values at lower nanofiller concentration (0.2 wt. %). The successful decoration of CNC on the GO surface promotes to the uniform dispersion, strong hydrogen bonding and outstanding interaction between the introduced nanofillers within the SLP system which leads to the better results in the mechanical and thermal properties. Besides, it was observed that the numerical simulation responses were in good deal with the laboratory values for both ultimate stress and strain. Thus, the as-prepared nanohybrids could possibly enrich the mechanical and thermal properties of the SLP system. • The graphene oxide surface was successfully decorated by the as-prepared cellulose nanocrystal nanoparticles (CNC@GO) and the as-ready CNC@GO hybrids were effectively incorporated with solventless polymer (SLP) called waterborne epoxy system to analyze its effects on mechanical and thermal properties. • At the loading concentration of 0.2% as-prepared CNC@GO within the WEP system, exposed that, the enhanced tensile strength, storage modulus, tan delta and thermal conductivity properties of the nanocomposites were found to be 149.048%, 441.667%, 14.773% and 45.91% higher than that of the blank group (neat SLP). • The numerical analysis was performed for the same and the resulted values were matching with the experimental values. • The excellent dispersion and better interfacial interaction between the sheet like CNC@GO and SLP matrix were achieved by the optimal incorporation of as-prepared CNC@GO hybrids.