Important morphological differences between the samples
prepared by using different oxidation methods can be observed by
SEM . TRGO-B exhibits small areas showing
stacked galleries typical of expanded graphite, indicating a partial
exfoliation of GO. On the other hand, TRGO-H
shows randomly oriented sheets without visible sheet stacking.
Botas et al. showed that the partially exfoliated stacked gallery
morphology of TRGO-B present higher surface area than TRGO-H.
This could facilitate the adsorption of the surfactant on TRGO-B
layers. The surfactant is used for stabilizing the aqueous TRGO-B
suspension employed for nanocomposite preparation. Consequently,
a higher dispersion of TRGO-B in the NR matrix may be
expected, resulting in a better interaction between the TRGO-B
particles and NR.