title: Synthesis of graphene aerogel with high electrical conductivity.
abstract: We report the synthesis of ultra-low-density three-dimensional macroassemblies of graphene sheets that exhibit high electrical conductivities and large internal surface areas. These materials are prepared as monolithic solids from suspensions of single-layer graphene oxide in which organic sol-gel chemistry is used to cross-link the individual sheets. The resulting gels are supercritically dried and then thermally reduced to yield graphene aerogels with densities approaching 10 mg/cm(3). In contrast to methods that utilize physical cross-links between GO, this approach provides covalent carbon bonding between the graphene sheets. These graphene aerogels exhibit an improvement in bulk electrical conductivity of more than 2 orders of magnitude (∼1 × 10(2) S/m) compared to graphene assemblies with physical cross-links alone (∼5 × 10(-1) S/m). The graphene aerogels also possess large surface areas (584 m(2)/g) and pore volumes (2.96 cm(3)/g), making these materials viable candidates for use in energy storage, catalysis, and sensing applications.
authors.affiliation: Physical and Life Science Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550, United States. worsley1@llnl.gov
authors.forename: Marcus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Worsley
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Pauzauskie
authors.forename: Tammy Y
authors.initials: TY
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Juergen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Biener
authors.forename: Joe H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Satcher
authors.forename: Theodore F
authors.initials: TF
authors.lastname: Baumann