Highly elastic graphene oxide–epoxy composite aerogels via simple freeze-drying and subsequent routine curing

Abstract

In this study, highly elastic graphene oxide–epoxy composite aerogel (GEA) was fabricated by a facile method, in which the mixed suspension of the thermoset epoxy precursors and graphene oxide sheets was freeze-dried, followed by a routine curing process. The resulting GEA with a three-dimensional network structure not only exhibits a high decomposition temperature (286 °C), excellent mechanical strength (0.231 MPa) and extremely low density (0.09 g cm−3), but also achieves high elasticity, as it recovers from a large compressive strain without significant permanent deformation. The exceptional properties of our obtained GEA provide the potential for a range of practical applications in energy-absorbing and durable insulation materials, and the convenient synthetic approach could also be utilized in the fabrication of other organic–inorganic composite aerogels with outstanding mechanical properties.