Facile Synthesis of Electrically Conductive and Heatable Nanoparticle/Nanocarbon Hybrid Aerogels

Joule heating studies on nanoparticle/nanocarbon hybrid aerogels have been reported, but systematic investigations hydrotalcite-derived catalysts supported onto reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are rare. In this study, Cu-Al2O3 nanoparticles were incorporated into a porous and multifunctional rGO aerogel support for fabricating electrically conducting Cu-Al2O3/rGO aerogels, their properties investigated in detail. The hybridization of with 3D nanocarbon network imparts additional functionalities to the widely used functional inorganic nanoparticles, such as direct electrical framework easy regeneration separation spent well-spaced nanoparticle segregation. variable-range hopping model fitting confirmed that electrons able reach entire enable uniform resistive heating. conductivity facilitates fast (up 636 K/min) embedded at very low energy consumption, while large porosity high thermal efficient heat dissipation during natural cooling 336 K/min). stability was demonstrated by repeated heating/cooling cycling different temperatures relevant important industrial applications. facile synthetic approach can be easily adapted fabricate other types MgAl-MMO/rGO Ni-Al2O3/rGO aerogel. These findings open up new routes functionalization extend application ranges involve electrical/thermal heating, temperature-dependent catalysis, sorption, sensing.