Shape-Memory and Anisotropic Carbon Aerogel from Biomass and Graphene Oxide

Biomass, as the most abundant and sustainable resource on the earth, has been regarded as an ideal carbon source to prepare various carbon materials. However, manufacturing shape-memory carbon aerogels with excellent compressibility and elasticity from biomass remains an open challenge. Herein, a cellulose-derived carbon aerogel with an anisotropic architecture is fabricated with the assistance of graphene oxide (GO) through a directional freeze-drying process and carbonization. The carbon aerogel displays excellent shape-memory performances, with high stress and height retentions of 93.6% and 95.5% after 1000 compression cycles, respectively. Moreover, the carbon aerogel can identify large ranges of compression strain (10–80%), and demonstrates excellent current stability during cyclic compression. The carbon aerogel can precisely capture a variety of biological signals in the human body, and thus can be used in wearable electronic devices.