Study on NO2 Barrier Properties of RTV Silicone Rubber by Incorporation of Functional Graphene Oxide

Abstract

In this study, functional graphene oxide (f-GO) nanosheets were prepared to enhance the NO2 resistibility of room-temperature-vulcanized (RTV) silicone rubber. A nitrogen dioxide (NO2) accelerated aging experiment was designed to simulate the aging process of nitrogen oxide produced by corona discharge on a silicone rubber composite coating, and then electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to test the process of conductive medium penetration into silicone rubber. After exposure to the same concentration (115 mg·L−1) of NO2 for 24 h, at an optimal filler content of 0.3 wt.%, the impedance modulus of the composite silicone rubber sample was 1.8 × 107 Ω·cm2, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of pure RTV. In addition, with an increase in filler content, the porosity of the coating decreases. When the content of the nanosheet increases to 0.3 wt.%; the porosity reaches a minimum value 0.97 × 10−4%, which is 1/4 of the porosity of the pure RTV coating, indicating that this composite silicone rubber sample has the best resistance to NO2 aging.