Here we study how graphene oxide affects silica aerogels and their physical and mechanical properties by examining volume shrinkage, pore volume, surface area and compressive strength of these composite aerogels. Composite aerogels were made through adding different amount of graphene oxide (GO) to sodium silicate precursor by using ambient pressure drying method. Additionally, the chemical composition of the composite aerogels was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A rougher structure was observed when the GO loading increased and the characteristic peak of GO in XRD disappeared due to the random distribution of GO within the silica matrix. FTIR spectrum of composite aerogels shows that the relative intensity of silanol groups on the silica matrix have downward tendency with the addition of GO. The specific surface area had maxima with the addition of 0.01 wt% GO surface area to 578 m² /g. The mechanical strength of aerogels was increased, with the loading of GO from 0.0 wt% to 0.2 wt%, and the compressive modulus increased from 0.02 MPa to 0.22 MPa.

在这里，我们通过检查这些复合气凝胶的体积收缩率、孔体积、表面积和抗压强度来研究氧化石墨烯如何影响二氧化硅气凝胶及其物理和机械性能。采用常压干燥法在硅酸钠前驱体中加入不同量的氧化石墨烯（GO）制备复合气凝胶。此外，使用 X 射线衍射 (XRD) 和傅里叶变换红外 (FTIR) 光谱测定复合气凝胶的化学成分。由于 GO 在二氧化硅基质中的随机分布，当 GO 负载增加并且 XRD 中 GO 的特征峰消失时，观察到更粗糙的结构。复合气凝胶的 FTIR 光谱表明，随着 GO 的加入，二氧化硅基体上硅烷醇基团的相对强度呈下降趋势。添加 0.01 wt% GO 表面积至 578 m 时，比表面积达到最大值² /克。随着GO的负载量从0.0 wt%增加到0.2 wt%，气凝胶的机械强度增加，压缩模量从0.02 MPa增加到0.22 MPa。