Three-dimensionally bonded spongy graphene material with super compressive elasticity and near-zero Poisson's ratio.

Yingpeng Wu,Pulickel M Ajayan,Shaoli Fang,Humberto Terrones,Simin Feng,Ningbo Yi,Jiyoung Oh,Huicong Chang,Peishuang Xiao,Lu Huang,Xavier Lepró,Mauricio Terrones,Ray H Baughman,Márcio Dias Lima,Pengfei Chu,Na Li,Fan Zhang,Long Zhang,Seon Jeong Kim,Guankui Long,Tengfei Zhang,Yi Huang,Yongsheng Chen,Néstor Perea-López ,Ana Laura Elías ,Alin Cristian Chipara ,Carter S Haines ,Ziyi Zhong ,Neithalath Narayanan ,Jun Young Lee ,Mikhail E Kozlov ,Ali E Aliev ,Lakshmy Pulickal Rajukumar

doi:10.1038/ncomms7141

Abstract

It is a challenge to fabricate graphene bulk materials with properties arising from the nature of individual graphene sheets, and which assemble into monolithic three-dimensional structures. Here we report the scalable self-assembly of randomly oriented graphene sheets into additive-free, essentially homogenous graphene sponge materials that provide a combination of both cork-like and rubber-like properties. These graphene sponges, with densities similar to air, display Poisson's ratios in all directions that are near-zero and largely strain-independent during reversible compression to giant strains. And at the same time, they function as enthalpic rubbers, which can recover up to 98% compression in air and 90% in liquids, and operate between -196 and 900 °C. Furthermore, these sponges provide reversible liquid absorption for hundreds of cycles and then discharge it within seconds, while still providing an effective near-zero Poisson's ratio.

Highlights

It is a challenge to fabricate graphene bulk materials with properties arising from the nature of individual graphene sheets, and which assemble into monolithic three-dimensional structures
We describe a unique bulk and monothlic grapheme-based sponge material, synthesized by a modified solvothermal reaction of graphene oxide (GO) sheets in alcohol and a subsequent thermal annealing to provide GO reduction and desired restoration of the graphene intrinsic structure and properties, which exhibits both superelastic performance like rubber and near-zero Poisson’s ratio in all directions like cork
Dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA) measurements demonstrate that the storage and loss moduli of our sponges are largely independent of temperature and frequency, indicating that the origin of elasticity is enthalpic[10,11]

Summary

Introduction

It is a challenge to fabricate graphene bulk materials with properties arising from the nature of individual graphene sheets, and which assemble into monolithic three-dimensional structures. We describe a unique bulk and monothlic grapheme-based sponge material, synthesized by a modified solvothermal reaction of GO sheets in alcohol and a subsequent thermal annealing to provide GO reduction and desired restoration of the graphene intrinsic structure and properties, which exhibits both superelastic performance like rubber and near-zero Poisson’s ratio in all directions like cork. These sponges have air-like densities and demonstrate highly repeatable compression and complete recovery in a wide temperature in air and liquid without substantial degradation. This demonstrates that if 2D materials are assembled into 3D mode where the properties of such 2D building blocks are kept, novel and combined properties may be observed

Methods

Results

Conclusion