Enhancement of interactions in styrene-butadiene rubber composites filled with GnPs through styrene content and presence of ionic liquid: Impact on photo-actuator performance

Abstract

In this article, a facile strategy for the production of stable, easy to handle and elastic composites exhibiting reproducible expansion response and being characterized by high susceptibility to the light-induced deformation is presented. According to it, a number of polymer composites with photo-actuation properties were successfully synthesized. Two styrene-butadiene rubbers (SBR) differing in their microstructure, containing graphene nanoplatelets (GnPs) and ionic liquid were used as research samples for the examination. The interactions between individual components of rubber mixtures resulted in polymer composites with well-tuned properties. An important observation was made that the improvement of the photo-actuation performance is related to the presence of ionic liquid acting as a compatibilizer between GnPs and SBR.