Ice Crystal Growth Mechanism and Structure-activity Relationships of Graphene Oxide/Poly(vinyl alcohol)Aerogels

Aerogels are special porous materials with low thermal conductivity,light weight,high energy absorption rate and large surface area,which have been applied in many fields.However,controlling the aerogel microstructure remains an academic challenge.Herein,by employing graphene oxide(GO)as the aerogel skeleton and utilizing poly(vinyl alcohol)(PVA)to regulate the ice crystal growth,we elucidate the relationships between the physicochemical properties of GO/PVA aerogel precursors and the nucleation and growth of ice crystals by using an ice-templating method.We demonstrate that due to the hydrogen bond formed between PVA and water molecules,resulting in the initial crystallization temperature being reduced from-12.60℃(GO/PVA-0.01)to-16.21℃(GO/PVA-0.1).Meanwhile,the strong hydrogen bond between PVA and GO limits the diffusion of water molecules,thereby inhibiting the growth of ice crystals,decreasing the pore size of the GO/PVA aerogel from 9.96 nm(GO/PVA-0.01)to 7.19 nm(GO/PVA-0.3),and thus the compressive strength of the aerogel increases from 0.045 MPa to 0.13MPa.Overall,the finding of this study can be extended to other aerogel precursors,and exhibit important scientific value and practical significance for the preparation of aerogel materials with highly controllable structures and performances.