Synergistic effect of polydopamine–polyethylenimine copolymer coating on graphene oxide for EVA nanocomposites and high-performance triboelectric nanogenerators

While the demand for lightweight high-strength nanocomposites is immense, their progress has been severely limited due to inferior filler dispersion and filler–matrix interface adhesion. This article reports a novel modification of graphene oxide (GO) encapsulated by the copolymer of polydopamine (PD) and polyethylenimine (PEI) via a Michael addition reaction, aiming to create robust ethylene vinyl acetate copolymer (EVA) nanocomposites even at very low amounts of filler loading by overcoming the above hindrances. It has been found that the addition of only 1.2 wt% modified GO (i.e., PD–PEI–rGO) increased the tensile strength, Young's modulus and storage modulus of EVA composites by 80%, 50% and 24%, respectively. These increments surpass many recent claims on relevant composites. Excellent molecular level dispersion was also observed from the fracture surface SEM images. Being amine-rich with high electron-donating capability and mechanically robust, the nanocomposite served as an outstanding tribopositive material, thereby generating 7.49 V and 4.06 μA output voltage and current, respectively, when employed in a triboelectric nanogenerator (TENG). The high electrical outputs led the device to light up 43 blue LEDs instantaneously upon hand pressing, demonstrating that the nanocomposite is indeed a promising candidate for harvesting green energy. Moreover, the nanogenerator displayed outstanding cyclic performance stability (even after 8000 cycles) and environmental durability.