Chinese Journal of Polymer Science Vol. 33, No. 2, (2015), 329338 Chinese Journal of Polymer Science © Chinese Chemical Society Institute of Chemistry, CAS Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 Poly(vinyl alcohol)/GO-MMT Nanocomposites: Preparation, Structure and Properties * Muhammad Raheel a, b , Kun Yao a , Jiang Gong a , Xue-cheng Chen a** , Dong-tao Liu a , Yi-chao Lin a , Dong-mei Cui a , Muhammad Siddiq b** and Tao Tang a** a State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, China b Department of Chemistry, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad 045320, Pakistan Abstract A facile, efficient and environment friendly method is established to prepare poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) based graphene oxide-montmorillonite (GO-MMT) nanocomposites in aqueous media. GO-MMT nanohybrid is obtained by the combination of GO and MMT in water without any reducing or stabilizing agents. The formation of GO-MMT nanohybrid is due to the hydrogen bonding and crosslinking effects. The sodium ions within MMT sheets act as crosslinkers between GO sheets and MMT platelets. The resultant nanocomposites are characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and mechanical testing. Compared to that of pure PVA, PVA nanocomposites show enhanced thermal stabilities and mechanical properties, which results from strong interfacial adhesion of the nanoadditives in PVA matrix. The further increase in the tensile strength and modulus results from strong interaction between PVA chains and layered GO-MMT as well as good mechanical properties of GO-MMT hybrid, compared to PVA/GO and PVA/MMT nanocompsoites. Keywords: Clay; Graphene oxide; Nanocomposites; Poly(vinyl alcohol). INTRODUCTION So far various types of inorganic nanofillers have been extensively studied for polymer reinforcements. The most widely used nanofillers are one-dimensional (nanotubes, nanorods, nanofibers), two-dimensional (layered silicates, clays) and three dimensional (silica, diamond) [13] . Over the past decade, graphene oxide (GO) as a layered carbon material has attracted great interest due to its superior mechanical, thermal and permeability properties. GO is readily soluble in polar solvents like water due to the presence of oxygen atom on the surface, as a result, GO can be uniformly dispersed in some polar mediums under sonication [4] . There have been reports about GO incorporating into a variety of polymer matrices as a filler to significantly improve mechanical and other properties [511] . Sodium montmorillonite (MMT) is made up of two silicate sheets mounted over an aluminate sheet combined as a unit by van der Waals and weak ionic forces [12] . MMT shows hydrophilic character and can form stable suspensions in water, which provides the compatibility of MMT with water soluble polymers [13] . Based upon the dispersion state of clay sheets in a polymer matrix, three different kinds of * This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51233005), CAS-TWAS 2012 Fellowship Award and Higher Education Commission (HEC) of Pakistan. ** Corresponding authors: Xue-cheng Chen (陈学成), E-mail: xchen@ciac.ac.cn Muhammad Raheel, E-mail: m_sidiq12@yahoo.com Tao Tang (唐涛), E-mail: ttang@ciac.ac.cn Received May 4, 2014; Revised September 2, 2014; Accepted September 28, 2014 doi: 10.1007/s10118-015-1586-2