Scalable template synthesis of resorcinol-formaldehyde/graphene oxide composite aerogels with tunable densities and mechanical properties
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Updated: Apr 18, 2026
Synthesis and Functionalization of 3D Nano-graphene Materials: Graphene Aerogels and Graphene Macro Assemblies
Published on: November 5, 2015
Xin Wang1, Lei-Lei Lu, Zhi-Long Yu
1Division of Nanomaterials & Chemistry, Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale, Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science and Technology, CAS Key Laboratory of Mechanical Behavior and Design of Materials, Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (P. R. China) http://staff.ustc.edu.cn/∼yulab/
Abstract:
Resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) and graphene oxide (GO) aerogels have found a variety of applications owing to their excellent properties and remarkable flexibility. However, the macroscopic and controllable synthesis of their composite gels is still a great challenge. By using GO sheets as template skeletons and metal ions (Co(2+), Ni(2+), or Ca(2+)) as catalysts and linkers, the first low-temperature scalable strategy for the synthesis of a new kind of RF-GO composite gel with tunable densities and mechanical properties was developed. The aerogels can tolerate a strain as high as 80% and quickly recover their original morphology after the compression has been released. Owing to their high compressibility, the gels might find applications in various areas, for example, as adsorbents for the removal of dye pollutants and in oil-spill cleanup.
