We report a covalent functionalization of graphene nanoparticles (GnPs) employing 2,3,4-Tri-O-acetyl-β-D-xylopyranosyl azide followed by fabrication of an epoxy/functionalized graphene nanocomposite and an evaluation of its thermo-mechanical performance. Successful functionalization of GnP was confirmed via thermal and spectroscopic study. Raman spectroscopy indicated that the functionalization was on the edge of the graphene sheets; the basal plane was not perturbed as a result of the functionalization. The epoxy/functionalized GnP composite system exhibited an increase in flexural modulus (~18%) and glass transition temperature (~10°C) compared to an un-functionalized GnP based epoxy composite.

Abstract
 1. Introduction
 2. Experimental Details
  2.1. Materials
  2.2. Functionalization of GnP using SugarAzide
  2.3. Fabrication of epoxy/GnP composite
 3. Measurements
 3. Proposed Mechanism
 4. Results and Discussion
 4.1. Characterization of functionalized graphene(SAMG)
  4.1.1. X-ray photo electron spectroscopy
  4.1.2. Atomic force microscopy
  4.1.3. Thermogravimetric analysis
  4.1.4. Raman spectroscopy
  4.1.5. Scanning electron microscopy
 4.2. Thermo-mechanical performance of epoxy/SAMG composite
  4.2.1. Thermogravimetric analysis
  4.2.2. Dynamic mechanical analyses
  4.2.3. Scanning electron microscopy
  4.2.4. Flexural properties
 5. Conclusions
 Acknowledgements
 References

• Saswata Bose(Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Composite Materials and Structures Center, Michigan State University, MI-48823, USA, Department of Chemical Engineering, Jadavpur University, Kolkata-700032, India)
• Lawrence T. Drzal(Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Composite Materials and Structures Center, Michigan State University, MI-48823, USA) Corresponding author