Tailoring mechanical and electrical properties of graphene oxide film for structural dielectric capacitors

Abstract Graphene oxide (GO) films can be used in structural dielectric capacitors (SDCs) as both primary structures and energy storage devices for large transportation equipment like aircraft. To meet the high requirements for aviation application, in this paper the mechanical and dielectric properties of GO films were optimized by concisely tailoring their carbon-to-oxygen (C/O) ratio. Our results show that both the mechanical and electrical conductivity of GO films increase with increasing the C/O ratio. This work also demonstrates that both mechanical and dielectric properties of GO films can be enhanced simultaneously through a mild reduction whilst retaining the electrical insulating nature of GO for SDC applications. The insights provided in this work would be beneficial not only for SDC applications but also for fundamental studies and developments of GO related materials.