In-situ Investigation on flexibility of elastic carbon aerogels

Abstract

Aerogels are highly porous materials synthesized via sol-gel process. Large inner surface areas, low densities, combined with a low thermal conductivity make aerogels interesting for many fields of application, such as thermal and acoustic insulation, gas adsorption or electrochemical applications. However, their brittleness imposes certain limitations in terms of applicability. In that context, novel carbon aerogels with varying degree of flexibility have been developed. Highly porous, light aerogels are characterized by a huge surface area of 600-660 m2/g and possess network structures with pores in the micrometer range, allowing a reversible deformation of the aerogel network. A high ratio of pore size to particle size was found to be crucial for high flexibility. For microstructural analysis, compression tests were performed in-situ within a scanning electron microscope allowing direct visualization of the deformation process in the 3D structure of carbon aerogels. The flexible carbon aerogels were found to withstand between 15% and 30% of uniaxial compression in a reversible fashion. New flexible carbon aerogels might stimulate further research and new fields of application directed towards flexible supercapacitors and batteries. The presentation will focus on the developments of the synthesis of such mechanically flexible carbon aerogel material and will explain the necessities of new characterization methods as well as it will show their potential in the field of applications.