Revealing Nanodomain Structures of Bottom-Up-Fabricated Graphene-Embedded Silicon Oxycarbide Ceramics
Dongxiao Hu,
Gaofeng Shao,
Jun Wang,
Aleksander Gurlo,
Maged F. Bekheet
Affiliations
Dongxiao Hu
School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Institute of Advanced Materials and Flexible Electronics (IAMFE), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Gaofeng Shao
School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Institute of Advanced Materials and Flexible Electronics (IAMFE), Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Jun Wang
Chair of Advanced Ceramic Materials, Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty III Process Sciences, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Aleksander Gurlo
Chair of Advanced Ceramic Materials, Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty III Process Sciences, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Maged F. Bekheet
Chair of Advanced Ceramic Materials, Institute of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty III Process Sciences, Technische Universität Berlin, Straße des 17. Juni 135, 10623 Berlin, Germany
Dispersing graphene nanosheets in polymer-derived ceramics (PDCs) has become a promising route to produce exceptional mechanical and functional properties. To reveal the complex nanodomain structures of graphene–PDC composites, a novel reduced graphene oxide aerogel embedded silicon oxycarbide (RGOA-SiOC) nanocomposite was fabricated bottom-up using a 3D reduced graphene oxide aerogel as a skeleton followed by infiltration of a ceramic precursor and high-temperature pyrolysis. The reduced graphene oxide played a critical role in not only the form of the free carbon phase but also the distribution of SiOxC4−x structural units in SiOC. Long-ordered and continuous graphene layers were then embedded into the amorphous SiOC phase. The oxygen-rich SiOxC4−x units were more prone to forming than carbon-rich SiOxC4−x units in SiOC after the introduction of reduced graphene oxide, which we attributed to the bonding of Si atoms in SiOC with O atoms in reduced graphene oxide during the pyrolysis process.
