Enhanced mechanical properties of graphene/copper nanocomposites using a molecular-level mixing process.

Graphene also has a large surface area (≈2600 m 2 g −1 ) and a low density (2.2 g cm −3 ), which makes it suitable as a reinforcement for nanocomposites. Numerous graphene/polymer composites have been studied for that reason. Stankovich et. al. fi rst reported possibilities of graphene-based polymer composites with homogeneous dispersion of graphene at relatively low percolation threshold of ≈0.1 vol% in polystyrene matrix. Since then, graphene/polymer nanocomposites have been reported based on epoxy, [ 5,6 ] poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), [ 7 ] polystyrene (PS), [ 8 ] polyurethane (PU), [ 9 ] and polypropylene (PP) [ 10 ]