Nitrile functionalized graphene for poly(arylene ether nitrite) nanocomposite films with enhanced dielectric permittivity

We firstly report an efficient and novel method to functionalize graphene with 4-aminophenoxyphthalonitrile and successfully compound them with poly(arylene ether nitrile) (PEN) to prepare nanocomposite films. Fourier transform infrared spectra (FTIR), Raman spectra, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were employed to examine the surface functionalization of graphene. The resulting PEN nanocomposite exhibited significant increase in dielectric permittivity. For 3 wt.% nitrile functionalized graphene reinforced PEN nanocomposite film, the dielectric constant increased from 3.2 to 17.8 at the frequency of 1 kHz. In addition, the PEN nanocomposite films showed low dielectric loss and good flexibility. This opens a new route to optimize interface structures and improve the comprehensive performances of graphene-polymer nanocomposites. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.