Structure and properties of graphene oxide/cellulose hybrid fibers via divalent metal ions treatment

Abstract

Cellulose hybrid fibers (CeHFs), hybridized via graphene oxide (GO) and metal ions (Ca2+), are synthesized by dry-jet wet spinning. The synthesized GO-Ca2+-CeHFs exhibit the tensile strength and the breaking elongation of 551 +/- 37.5 MPa and 5.9 +/- 0.4%, respectively, while the GO/cellulose composite fibers (GO-CeFs) show the tensile strength of 403 +/- 76.0 MPa and the elongation of 4.5 +/- 0.5%; thus, the GO-Ca2+-CeHFs demonstrate improved mechanical properties over GO-CeFs by 37 and 31% in terms of tensile strength and elongation, respectively. These results are attributed to the metal ions that form a good interfacial interaction between the functional groups of cellulose and GO. In addition, the tensile strength of GO-Ba2+-CeHFs is as high as 580 +/- 25 MPa, which is induced by the difference in the ionic radius. Therefore, the high mechanical properties of the synthesized cellulose-based fibers have the potential to be used as sustainable alternative to the synthetic fibers used in the industrial applications.