{"title":"Influence of nanosheet size and oxygen-containing functional group content on the reinforcing efficiency of graphene oxide on cementitious composites","authors":"Junxiang Hu, Shuaijie Lu, Xinlei Mao, Jiahao Luo, Siyao Wang, Yuan Gao","doi":"10.1007/s10853-025-10888-5","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>Dispersion is crucial in the reinforcement efficiency of graphene oxide (GO) in cementitious composite modification. However, the generally used nanomaterial dispersion methods commonly affect the physical size and functional group proportion of GO, thus weakening the reinforcing effects of the cement reinforcement. In the present study, the molecular dynamical (MD) simulation was employed to investigate the tensile mechanical properties of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H)/GO composites under different physical sizes and oxygen-containing functional group contents of GO nanosheets. The results demonstrate that the mixed GO nanosheet reinforces the C–S–H via ductility and strain energy density reinforcement from the MD perspective rather than a macroscopic peak strength improvement. Benefiting from the crack-bridging roles of GO, the ductility and strain energy density of C–S–H composites can be strengthened by up to 53.6–66.7%. A new \"danger interval\" mechanism is found in GO modification cementitious composites. With an increment of the physical size and oxygen-containing functional group content of inserted GO, the peak stress, ductility, and strain energy density of the GO/C–S–H composites all demonstrate a first declining and then rising trend, hitting the lowest value at 0.18 oxygen–carbon ratio and 0.48 size ratio with C–S–H in the <i>z</i>-axis direction. The tensile strain and stress characteristics further illustrate that inadequate nanosheet size and oxygen-containing functional group content weaken the ability of strain/stress redistribution capability of GO, thus limiting the reinforcement efficiency of the GO. The findings of this study would not only board the reinforcing mechanism of GO in cement-based materials but also guide the reasonable GO-reinforced cementitious composite manufacture in the future practical engineering.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":645,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Materials Science","volume":"60 17","pages":"7289 - 7306"},"PeriodicalIF":3.5000,"publicationDate":"2025-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Materials Science","FirstCategoryId":"88","ListUrlMain":"https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10853-025-10888-5","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"材料科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"MATERIALS SCIENCE, MULTIDISCIPLINARY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Dispersion is crucial in the reinforcement efficiency of graphene oxide (GO) in cementitious composite modification. However, the generally used nanomaterial dispersion methods commonly affect the physical size and functional group proportion of GO, thus weakening the reinforcing effects of the cement reinforcement. In the present study, the molecular dynamical (MD) simulation was employed to investigate the tensile mechanical properties of calcium silicate hydrate (C–S–H)/GO composites under different physical sizes and oxygen-containing functional group contents of GO nanosheets. The results demonstrate that the mixed GO nanosheet reinforces the C–S–H via ductility and strain energy density reinforcement from the MD perspective rather than a macroscopic peak strength improvement. Benefiting from the crack-bridging roles of GO, the ductility and strain energy density of C–S–H composites can be strengthened by up to 53.6–66.7%. A new "danger interval" mechanism is found in GO modification cementitious composites. With an increment of the physical size and oxygen-containing functional group content of inserted GO, the peak stress, ductility, and strain energy density of the GO/C–S–H composites all demonstrate a first declining and then rising trend, hitting the lowest value at 0.18 oxygen–carbon ratio and 0.48 size ratio with C–S–H in the z-axis direction. The tensile strain and stress characteristics further illustrate that inadequate nanosheet size and oxygen-containing functional group content weaken the ability of strain/stress redistribution capability of GO, thus limiting the reinforcement efficiency of the GO. The findings of this study would not only board the reinforcing mechanism of GO in cement-based materials but also guide the reasonable GO-reinforced cementitious composite manufacture in the future practical engineering.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Materials Science publishes reviews, full-length papers, and short Communications recording original research results on, or techniques for studying the relationship between structure, properties, and uses of materials. The subjects are seen from international and interdisciplinary perspectives covering areas including metals, ceramics, glasses, polymers, electrical materials, composite materials, fibers, nanostructured materials, nanocomposites, and biological and biomedical materials. The Journal of Materials Science is now firmly established as the leading source of primary communication for scientists investigating the structure and properties of all engineering materials.