On March 19, 2013, the research group of Professor Gao Chao from the Department of Polymers of Zhejiang University created an ultra-light material named carbon sponge. It is currently the lightest solid material known in the world. This achievement was featured in the research news column of the authoritative scientific magazine Nature (Issue 494, page 404, February 28, 2013). The relevant paper was published online on February 18, 2013, in Advanced Materials, an authoritative academic magazine in the materials science community.
Professor Gao Chao said that carbon sponge is a kind of aerogel, the lightest material in the world. It has many pores inside and is filled with air.
In 2011, American scientists collaborated to create an aerogel made of nickel with a density of 0.9 mg/cubic centimeter, making it the lightest solid material at the time. When this material is placed on a dandelion flower, the dandelion hairs remain almost unchanged.
The Gaochao research group has been engaged in the research and development of graphene macro-materials in recent years. They used graphene to create aerogels - carbon sponges. Carbon sponge; weighing 0.16 milligrams per cubic centimeter, it is lighter than helium and about twice the weight of hydrogen of the same volume. Judging from current public reports, carbon sponge is the lightest solid in the world.
In the laboratory of Zhejiang University, there are many carbon sponges of different sizes; the big ones are like tennis balls, and the small ones are like wine corks. They are gray and very elastic to the touch.
Professor Gao said that the shape of carbon sponge can be adjusted arbitrarily, and its elasticity is also very good. It can still return to its original shape after being compressed for 80 degrees. It has ultra-fast and ultra-high adsorption capacity for organic solvents, and is the material with the strongest oil absorption capacity reported. Existing oil-absorbing products generally can only absorb liquids about 10 times their own mass, while carbon sponges can absorb about 250 times, up to 900 times, and only absorb oil but not water.
This characteristic of carbon sponge can be used to deal with oil spills at sea - by spreading the carbon sponge on the sea surface, the spilled oil can be quickly sucked in. Because it is elastic, the sucked oil can be squeezed out. Come out for recycling, and the carbon sponge can also be reused.
In addition, carbon sponge may also become an ideal energy storage insulation material, catalyst carrier and high-efficiency composite material, with broad prospects.