Abstract
Polymethyl methacrylate and reduced graphene oxide/silver (PMMA/RGO/(RGO))AgNPs) nanocomposites were prepared via in situ bulk polymerization method using two different preparation techniques. In the first approach, mixture of silver nitrate, Hydrazine hydrate and polymethyl methacrylate containing graphene oxide (PMMA/GO) were reduced by microwave irradiation (MWI) to obtain R-(GO-PMMA)/AgNPs nanocomposites. In the second approach, a mixture of (RGO/AgNPs) nanocomposite, which was produced by microwave, and MMA monomers were polymerized using in situ bulk polymerization method to obtain PMMA-RGO/AgNPs nanocomposites. The two nanocomposites were compared and characterized by FTIR, XRD, XPS, HRTEM, and TGA. The results indicate that the nanocomposites obtained using the first approach, which involved MWI, had a better morphology and dispersion with enhanced thermal stability compared with the nanocomposites pre-pared without MWI.