Simultaneous reduction and surface functionalization of graphene oxide (GO) were realized by simple refluxing of GO with polyetheramine (Huntsman Jeffamine M-2005

abbreviation:JM-2005) without the addition of any reducing agents.The JM-2005-reduced GO sample (JM-2005-rGO) prepared via the epoxide aminolysis reaction in this work were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy

X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS)

X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy.All of the above results confirmed that JM-2005 not only covalently bonded to the GO

as a functionalization moiety

but also partly restored the conjugate structure of GO

as a reducing agent.Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) revealed that JM-2005-rGO sheets were slightly wrinkled and folded on the ultrathin carbon membrane.The well-defined diffraction spots of the selected area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern confirmed the crystalline structure of JM-2005-rGO.The evolution of surface functionality during reaction made the hydrophilic GO hydrophobic

as evidenced by the good dispersion of JM-2005-rGO in toluene solvent without noticeable precipitation.Furthermore

the various amounts of JM-2005-rGO were added to the epoxy resin

producing the JM-2005-rGO/epoxy nanocomposites.The flame retardancy and thermal stability of JM-2005-rGO/epoxy nanocomposites containing various weight fractions of JM-2005-rGO were investigated by the limiting oxygen index (LOI) test and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) in nitrogen.Significant increases in the char yield and LOI were achieved with the addition of 10 wt% JM-2005-rGO in epoxy

giving improvements of 137% and 30%

respectively.This report demonstrates a cost-effective approach to construct the functionalized graphene/epoxy nanocomposites

with reinforced properties and indicates further application in research and industrial areas.