High-strength and morphology-controlled aerogel based on carboxymethyl cellulose and graphene oxide

Composite aerogels with excellent mechanical properties were prepared by using carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) as raw materials, 2D graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets as reinforcement, boric acid (BA) as cross-linker. By controlling the heat transfer rate, composite aerogels with isotropy and anisotropy structure were prepared, the mechanical and heat insulation properties were studied. The isotropy composite aerogel had compression strength of 110 kPa at 60% compression, which was 5 times of the axial and 14 times of the radial of anisotropy structure composite aerogels, and thermal conductivity was also lower than those of two directions of anisotropy composite aerogel. Besides, the mechanical properties of isotropy composite aerogels increased with the increase of GO content. When GO content was up to 5 wt%, the compressive strength and Young’s modulus of composite aerogels reached 349 kPa and 1029 kPa, which were 1.6 and 4.5 times that of CMC aerogels, respectively.