Sustainable in Situ Approach to Covalently Functionalize Graphene Oxide with POSS Molecules Possessing Extremely Low Dielectric Behavior

Abstract

Incorporation of multifunctional inorganic additives into the commercial polymers still stands as the most captivating and effective way to realize new-generation electronic components. Here, we introduce a simple, cost-effective, and environmentally benign method to covalently functionalize graphene oxide (GO) with vinyl- and aminopropyl-functionalized hybrid silica spheres with a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)–siloxane composition. The reaction has been carried out in a mixture of ethanol and water (used as a medium) at ambient conditions with silane precursors. Later, the synthesized hybrid material has been tested for its dielectric properties after blending with syndiotactic polystyrene, a commercially available insulating semicrystalline polymer. It was observed that the dielectric constant decreases with the addition of GOPOSS up to 1.85 with a dielectric loss of 0.02 at 5 GHz. Significant improvements in the thermal properties of the composites were verified with minimal filler loading.