Thermal insulation and antioxidation of vertical graphene oxide-grafted carbon nanofiber aerogels with ceramic coating

In this work, composite aerogels with low thermal conductivity and antioxidation were prepared by introducing graphene oxide (GO) on the carbon nanofibers (CNFs) surface, followed by ceramic coating. CNFs surface-grafted vertical morphology of GO was used as an enhancer to hinder the heat radiation transmission. The introduced shrinkage-resistant ceramic coating was used as an antioxidant barrier for carbon materials. The anti-shrinking ceramic coating was obtained by heat treatment of coating with wrinkle morphology to complete the ceramic transformation. The wrinkle morphology of the coating originated from the gradient crosslinking of the coating before its ceramic transformation. Among them, the gradient crosslinking of the coating could be done by irradiation crosslinking and crosslinker impregnation crosslinking. The thermal insulation and antioxidant of the composite aerogel were jointly investigated. Moreover, the mechanism of CNFs surface grafting GO and the anti-shrinkage mechanism of the coating were systematically discussed. The experimental results showed that the aerogel exhibited excellent thermal insulation and oxidation resistance in a wide range of temperatures. The structural design of the aerogel not only weakened the thermal radiation transmission to the CNFs aerogel but also significantly enhanced the antioxidant.