The aeronautical industry demands facile lightweight
and low-cost
solutions to address climate crisis challenges. Graphene can be a
valid candidate to tackle these functionalities, although its upscalability
remains difficult to achieve. Consequently, graphene-related materials
(GRM) are gathering massive attention as top-down graphite exfoliation
processes at the industrial scale are feasible and often employed.
In this work, environmentally friendly produced partially oxidized
graphene nanosheets (POGNs) reduced by green solvents such asl-Ascorbic Acid to rGNs are proposed to deliver functional coatings
based on a glass fiber composite or coated Al2024 T3 for strategic
R&D questions in the aeronautical industry,i.e., low energy production, de-icing, and water uptake. In detail, energy
efficiency in rGNs production is assessed via response-surface modeling
of the powder conductivity, hence proposing an optimized reduction
window. De-Icing functionality is verified by measuring the stable
electrothermal property of an rGNs based composite over 24 h, and
water uptake is elucidated by evaluating electrochemical and corrosion
properties. Moreover, a mathematical model is proposed to depict the
relation between the layers’ sheet resistance and applied rGNs
mass per area, which extends the system to other graphene-related
materials, conductive two-dimensional materials, and various substrates.
To conclude, the proposed system based on rGNs and epoxy paves the
way for future multifunctional coatings, able to enhance the resistance
of surfaces, such as airplane wings, in a flight harsh environment.