Superelastic isotropic carbon aerogel with spherical cavity structure

To address the issue of mechanical heterogeneity and structural failure in traditional anisotropic aerogels under complex stress fields, this study proposes a synergistic strategy combining bubble templating with freeze-casting. This approach enables the fabrication of an elastic carbon aerogel with three-dimensionally isotropic structural characteristics. Using aramid nanofibers as the matrix skeleton, the incorporation of graphene oxide reduces the surface tension of the solution while enhancing system viscosity, effectively suppressing bubble coalescence and ultimately yielding a carbon aerogel with a spherical cavity structure. The resulting aerogel exhibits nearly identical physical properties across all three spatial dimensions. Notably, it maintains exceptional structural stability (plastic deformation < 2.9%) even under 80% compressive strain and demonstrates ultra-wide temperature adaptability. This work provides a novel design strategy for high-performance porous materials.