Advanced multifunctional graphene aerogel – Poly (methyl methacrylate) composites: Experiments and modeling

In this work, graphene aerogel (GA)–poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) composites are first developed by backfilling PMMA into the pores of the GAs, providing uniform distribution of multi-layer reduced graphene oxide (m-rGO) sheets in the PMMA matrix. Electrical, mechanical and thermal properties of the as-prepared GA–PMMA composites are investigated by two-probe, microindentation and comparative infrared techniques respectively. As graphene loadings increase from 0.67 to 2.50 vol.%, the composites exhibit significant increases in electrical conductivity (0.160–0.859 S/m), microhardness (303.6–462.5 MPa) and thermal conductivity (0.35–0.70 W/m K) from that of pure PMMA as well as graphene–PMMA composites prepared by traditional dispersion methods. Thermal boundary resistance between graphene and PMMA is estimated to be 1.906 × 10−8 m2 K/W by an off-lattice Monte Carlo algorithm that takes into account the complex morphology, size distribution and dispersion of m-rGO sheets.