Ball milling‐assisted exfoliation and deposition to prepare few‐layer graphene/PVC nanocomposites with enhanced thermal stability.

It is still a great challenge to prepare high‐performance graphene/polymer nanocomposites by fully utilizing the large surface area, high tensile strength, and high thermal stability. Herein, a simple but efficient approach based on ball milling was developed to in situ exfoliate graphite into single‐layer graphene and simultaneously deposit them onto polyvinyl chloride (PVC) surface. Graphene/PVC nanocomposites were prepared via the plasticized molding and followed by hot pressing. Resulting from incorporation of highly exfoliated and evenly distributed graphene nanosheets, the obtained graphene/PVC nanocomposites displayed a significantly enhanced thermal stability. In contrast with neat PVC, the temperature of maximum weight loss (Tmax), glass transition temperature (Tg), and residual content of composite with 2.0 wt% graphene were increased by 10, 13°C, and 4.4%, respectively. Based on the deep analysis on heat releasing behavior and structure of residue, we proposed the related enhancing mechanism. Large‐area and highly exfoliated graphene sheets effectively inhibited the heat/mass transfer in composite system and prevented the degradation of PVC, as well as promoted the compact residue formation from polymer itself at high temperatures. In short, this work provided an environmentally friendly strategy to prepare high‐performance graphene/polymer nanocomposites with using low additive amount of single‐layer graphene. Highlights: A simple graphite exfoliation method based on ball milling was proposed.Strong shearing and compact force induce graphene exfoliation and deposition.Graphene/PVC nanocomposites with enhanced thermal stability was prepared. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]