Highly elastic and conductive graphene/carboxymethylcellulose aerogels for flexible strain-sensing materials

Abstract

In recent years, graphene/polymer (GE/polymer) aerogels have been extensively studied and applied in flexible strain sensors. However, for most GE/polymer aerogels, it is difficult to satisfy both high elasticity and excellent conductivity, which restricts its application as wearable strain sensors. Therefore, it still remains a great challenge for fabricating highly elastic, conductive, and stable sensing aerogels. In this work, a highly elastic and conductive GE/carboxymethylcellulose (GE/CMC) aerogel is prepared by a facile solution mixing–freeze-drying process. Thanks to the strong hydrogen-bonding synergistic interactions between GE sheets and flexible CMC chains, high C/O atomic ratio, and inerratic conductive network, our GE/CMC hydrophobic aerogels exhibit stable high elasticity (4000 steady compression cycles at 50% strain), superior electrical conductivity (86.73 S m−1 under 70% compression strain), and excellent compression sensitivity (gauge factor can reach 1.58 under 45–70% strain). With above outstanding performances, our GE/CMC aerogel can be expected to be applied in wearable strain sensors.