Fractal analysis of mechanical properties in folded graphene aerogels

Abstract

Abstract Origami structures contributed to the design of composite materials with excellent mechanical properties. In our previous work, the GO sheet was folded through the coordination and electrostatic interaction among oxygen atoms and Cu2+. The folded graphene aerogel (fGA) was constructed with folded graphene oxide sheets (fGO). However, the effect of pore structure parameters on the mechanical properties of fGA was neglected. Therefore, based on fractal theory, the pore structure of fGA was parametrically quantified using the fractal dimension (Df) in this paper. The elastic behavior of fGA was investigated through the mean-field homogenization fractal model (MHFM). The results showed that the fGA elasticity property exhibited a non-linear decreasing trend as the Df increased. The fGA with abundant pore structures was constructed by fGO, and these pores were essential for the structural stabilization of the aerogels. The excellent mechanical properties were possessed in fGA. As the pore size distribution of fGA became uniform, the variation of its elastic properties tended to stabilize.