Preparation and characterization of poly(vinyl alcohol)- and Cu(OH)2-poly(vinyl alcohol)-intercalated graphite oxides

Poly(vinyl alcohol)- (PVA) and Cu(OH)(2)-PVA-intercalated graphite oxide (GO) were prepared and characterized in detail. The I-c values of PVA-intercalated GO varied widely in the range: 1.32-2.24 nm. In the case of PVA-intercalated GO, a stepwise increase of the I-c value of similar to 0.5 nm was observed along with the increase of amount of intercalated PVA, which suggests that two types of orientation of PVA occur in GO layer, that is, PVA chains lie in the layer as a single layer or as double layers. In the case of Cu(OH)(2)-PVA-intercalated GO, the I-c values changed in very wide range between 1.66 and 4.96 nm, strongly depending on the pH value of the solution. The formation of intercalation compound with about similar to 2.0 nm indicated that the PVA-Cu(OH)(2) complex that was observed only in aqueous solution was isolated in the form of solid by means of intercalation into the GO layer for the first time. The change of the I-c values over a wide range suggests that the Cu(OH)(2)-PVA complex can take on various kinds of conformation in the layer of GO.