PMID- 34110680 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20210715 IS - 1613-6829 (Electronic) IS - 1613-6810 (Linking) VI - 17 IP - 28 DP - 2021 Jul TI - Ultrafast Fabrication of Graphene-Reinforced Nanocomposites via Synergy of Steam Explosion and Alternating Convergent-Divergent Flow. PG - e2100017 LID - 10.1002/smll.202100017 [doi] AB - Producing high-quality graphene and polymer/graphene nanocomposite is facing the problems of complex procedure, low efficiency, and serious resource waste. To explore a new fabrication approach with high efficiency and low cost is crucial for solving these technical issues, which becomes a current research hotspot and also a great challenge. Herein, a one-step melt mixing strategy based on the synergy of steam explosion and alternating convergent-divergent flow, is innovatively developed to fabricate high-density polyethylene (HDPE)/graphene nanocomposites using industrial-grade expanded graphite (EG) without chemical agents and complex procedures. The co-action of the external force derived from elongational melts and the internal force generated by steam explosion make EG ultrafastly exfoliate into few-layer graphene nanosheets (GNS) and simultaneously disperse in melts within 4 min. The as-produced GNS have a lateral size of over 5 microm and a minimum thickness of 1.4 nm, can introduce super heterogeneous nucleation to HDPE macromolecules and greatly increases nanocomposite crystallinity up to 86.5%. Moreover, plentiful HDPE crystallites and well-dispersed GNS jointly form an improved thermally-conductive network, making nanocomposites with a rapid-respond ability in solar-to-thermal conversion and heat dissipation. This facile strategy will facilitate the development of scalable production and wide application of high-performance graphene and highly-filled nanocomposites. CI - (c) 2021 Wiley-VCH GmbH. FAU - Xu, Wen-Hua AU - Xu WH AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - He, Yue AU - He Y AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - Xie, Heng AU - Xie H AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - Qin, Sen AU - Qin S AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - Tan, Ling-Cao AU - Tan LC AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - Wu, Ting AU - Wu T AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. FAU - Qu, Jin-Ping AU - Qu JP AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-3803-325X AD - The National Engineering Research Center of Novel Equipment for Polymer Processing, The Key Laboratory of Polymer Processing Engineering, Ministry of Education, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Technique and Equipment for Macromolecular Advanced Manufacturing, School of Mechanical & Automotive Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, P. R. China. LA - eng GR - 51933004/National Natural Science Foundation of China/ GR - 2016YFB0302300/National Key Research and Development Program of China/ GR - 2018A030313275/Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China/ GR - 2017A030313270/Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province of China/ GR - 2019A1515110962/Yuesui Joint Foundation for Young Scholars/ GR - 2020M672340/Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China/ PT - Journal Article DEP - 20210610 PL - Germany TA - Small JT - Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) JID - 101235338 SB - IM OTO - NOTNLM OT - alternating convergent-divergent flow OT - expanded graphite OT - highly thermal conductivity OT - simultaneous exfoliation and dispersion OT - steam explosion EDAT- 2021/06/11 06:00 MHDA- 2021/06/11 06:01 CRDT- 2021/06/10 12:39 PHST- 2021/03/04 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2021/01/03 00:00 [received] PHST- 2021/06/11 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2021/06/11 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2021/06/10 12:39 [entrez] AID - 10.1002/smll.202100017 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Small. 2021 Jul;17(28):e2100017. doi: 10.1002/smll.202100017. Epub 2021 Jun 10.