Study on the thermal insulation performance of the core–shell skeleton graphene oxide/carbon composite aerogel

Abstract Phenolic resin (PR) was grafted onto the surface of graphene oxide (GO) through π–π conjugation and chemical bonding. After carbonization, organic compounds turned into carbon layers with a thickness of about 10 nm and coated on the surface of GO formed a core–shell structure. Besides, the adiabatic interface formed during organic carbonization can effectively connect the aerogels into a three-dimensional network. The optimum mass ratio of GO was determined to be 10 wt% in the preparation of the precursor aerogel. The adiabatic interfaces (carbon) between GO lamellae could effectively reduce the solid phase heat transfer in aerogels (thermal conductivity is 0.0457 W m −1 K −1 ). At the same time, the existence of GO also ensured better mechanical properties of GO/carbon composite aerogel (compressive strength is 2.43 MPa) compared with the pure carbon aerogel (1.52 MPa), demonstrating the excellent heat-shielding performance and mechanical property of GO/carbon aerogel.