Development of bio-inspired cement-based material by magnetically aligning graphene oxide nanosheets in cement paste.

• Magnetite-GO were successfully prepared by attaching magnetite nanoparticles on the surface of GO. • GO were magnetically aligned through the application of an external magnetic field. • GO alignment improved both the flexural strength and elastic modulus of the cement paste. This study fabricated magnetic nanocomposites by attaching magnetite nanoparticles on the surface of graphene oxide (GO). Through the application of an external magnetic field with a strength of 0.045 T, GO nanosheets were found to be aligned in the cement paste specimen. According to polarized Raman spectroscopic study, the orientation factor of aligned and randomly oriented GO were 0.66 and 0.53, respectively. Further, the GO alignment contributed to mechanical properties. At 28 d, the flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity of specimen with aligned GO was improved by 40.82 and 90.93 %, respectively, compared to that of blank cement paste without GO. In addition, compared to the cement paste with randomly oriented GO, the specimen with aligned GO exhibited an increase of 12.61 and 11.86 %, in flexural strength and flexural modulus of elasticity, respectively. This study provides insights into the design of GO incorporated cement-based materials by carefully manipulating magnetic properties of GO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]