Sustainable and multifunctional composites of graphene-based natural jute fibers

Abstract

Smart and sustainable natural fiber-based composites are of great interest due to their biodegradability, recyclability, and environmental benefits over synthetic fiber composites. In addition, the environmental impact of plastics and synthetic fibers are widespread and substantial, as they can stay in the environment for hundreds of years and contribute significantly to global carbon emissions. Natural fibers such as jute can potentially replace synthetic fibers to manufacture environmentally sustainable, biodegradable, and lightweight composites with improved properties, good thermal and acoustic insulation, and a smaller carbon footprint. However, natural jute fiber-based composites suffer not only from poor mechanical properties but also being inherently electrically insulating, which limits their applications as multifunctional composites. Here multi-functional and environmentally sustainable smart composites of graphene-based natural jute fibers with excellent tensile and interfacial properties are reported. The reduced graphene oxide-based natural jute fiber enhance the Young's modulus of the composites by ≈450%, and tensile strength by ≈183% after physical and chemical treatment. Such high-performance composites can also be used as multifunctional smart composites, as demonstrated by effective electro-magnetic interference shielding performance. This may lead to manufacturing of next generation smart, strong, and sustainable natural fiber composites for high performance engineering applications without conferring environmental problems.