title: Synthesis and characterization of highly crystalline graphene aerogels.
abstract: Aerogels are used in a broad range of scientific and industrial applications due to their large surface areas, ultrafine pore sizes, and extremely low densities. Recently, a large number of reports have described graphene aerogels based on the reduction of graphene oxide (GO). Though these GO-based aerogels represent a considerable advance relative to traditional carbon aerogels, they remain significantly inferior to individual graphene sheets due to their poor crystallinity. Here, we report a straightforward method to synthesize highly crystalline GO-based graphene aerogels via high-temperature processing common in commercial graphite production. The crystallization of the graphene aerogels versus annealing temperature is characterized using Raman and X-ray absorption spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and electron microscopy. Nitrogen porosimetry shows that the highly crystalline graphene macrostructure maintains a high surface area and ultrafine pore size. Because of their enhanced crystallinity, these graphene aerogels exhibit a ∼ 200 °C improvement in oxidation temperature and an order of magnitude increase in electrical conductivity.
authors.affiliation: Physical and Life Sciences Directorate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory , Livermore, California 94550, United States.
authors.forename: Marcus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Worsley
authors.forename: Thang T
authors.initials: TT
authors.lastname: Pham
authors.forename: Aiming
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.forename: Swanee J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Jonathan R I
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bagge-Hansen
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mickelson
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zettl
keywords: aerogel; graphene