Achieving highly anisotropic three-dimensional, lightweight, and versatile conductive wood/rGO composite

The Functionality of wood has evolved with time to adapt to the emerging needs in society. In this work, endowing electrical conductivity to the insulating wood by adding reduced graphene oxide (rGO) into the wood matrix to form a conductive wood/rGO composite (conductive wood) via a facile and environmentally benign fabrication technique. The rationale of fabricating conductive wood is of two folds: (1) The high suitability of wood as a renewable matrix due to its porous network and mechanically robust monolithic structure. (2) The need to explore a reasonable strategy to adequately translate the properties of rGO from microscopic level to macroscopic level. The conductive wood is able to preserve both the natural features of wood (to function as mechanical scaffold) and the conductivity of rGO. An outstanding electrical conductivity (volume resistivity of 36.7 Ω cm) is achieved for the conductive wood, while it can maintain a low bulk density of 0.44 g /cm. More significantly, the conductive wood demonstrates a highly three-dimensional anisotropic conductivity that makes it a highly versatile conductor in various applications (e.g., electromagnetic shielding and wave absorbing materials). Hence, this lightweight conductive wood may contribute toward a great electronic revolution and as an encouraging strategy to repurpose the function of wood in this new era.