Graphene Aerogel: Introduction and Market News
What is aerogel?
Aerogel is created by combining a polymer with a solvent to form a gel, and then removing the liquid from the gel and replacing it with gas (usually air). The high air content (99.98% air by volume) makes it one of the world's lightest solid material. Aerogels can be made from a variety of chemical compounds, and are a diverse class of materials with unique properties. They are known as excellent insulators, and usually have low density and low thermal conductivity.
Aerogels can be used in various applications, and although they have been around since the 1930s, their development is still progressing (for example, NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland has invented several groundbreaking methods of creating new types of aerogels).
Common applications include enhancing the thermal performance of energy-saving materials and sustainable products for buildings, acting as a high performance additive to coatings, prevention of corrosion under insulation, uses in imaging devices, optics, and light guides, thermal breaks and condensation control, architectural lighting panels, outdoor and sports gear and clothing, and more.
Graphene aerogel
Graphene aerogel, also known as aerographene, is considered to be the least dense solid in existence (graphene aerogels are light enough to be balanced on small plants!).
Graphene aerogels are quite elastic and can easily retain their original form after some compression. In addition, the low density of graphene aerogels makes them very absorbent (to the point where it can even absorb more than 850 times its own weight). This means that it could be useful for environmental clean-ups like oil spills, and the aerogels only need to be picked up later after absorbing the spilled material. Graphene aerogel may also have some applications in both the storage and the transfer of energy by enabling the creation of lighter, higher-energy-density batteries - and vigorous research is being done on the matter.
Graphene aerogel are somewhat similar to graphene foams. Graphene foams are usually made by CVD growth on a metal structure (which is later removed), and are so more conductive than graphene aerogels.
Graphene aerogels are already being sold commercially, for about about $300 per gram.
Researchers develop ultra-sensitive graphene aerogel pressure sensor for flexible e-skin and wearables
Researchers from Hebei University of Technology, Zhejiang Sci-Tech University, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology and The Pennsylvania State University recently reported on a high-performance flexible pressure sensor based on an anisotropic reduced graphene oxide aerogel (rGOA), addressing the long-standing challenge of simultaneously achieving ultra-high sensitivity and a wide detection range in wearable and robotic sensing systems.
The device architecture integrates the rGOA sensing layer between a polyimide (PI) film with interdigital electrodes and a thin polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) encapsulation layer. The aerogel itself is fabricated via a freeze-casting process that induces a highly ordered anisotropic structure. By controlling the freezing direction of the graphene oxide precursor, the researchers form a lamellar, porous 3D network that enables controlled deformation under pressure and efficient modulation of electrical pathways.
Laser‑driven graphene aerogels show strong propulsion in ESA microgravity tests
A recent European Space Agency (ESA) parabolic flight has demonstrated that graphene aerogels can be efficiently propelled by laser light in microgravity, highlighting a promising route for fuel‑free space propulsion. In near‑weightlessness, ultralight graphene aerogel cubes (density around 0.01 g/cm³) accelerated “faster than a blink” when illuminated with a laser, while under normal Earth gravity the same samples showed only minimal motion.
During the microgravity phases, the aerogels travelled about 50 mm in a few hundredths of a second and reached peak velocities of around 1.7 m/s, with a short thrust pulse on the order of 0.6 mN. On the ground at 1 g, displacement was limited to roughly 15 mm, velocities stayed near 0.06 m/s, and the thrust dropped to only a few tens of µN. This clearly shows that gravity and surface friction had been hiding most of the material’s light‑driven performance in previous lab measurements.
Hollow graphene aerogel fibers mimicking polar bear fur enable improved thermal management and wearable electronics
Researchers from Lanzhou University, University of Science and Technology Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have developed a new class of hollow graphene aerogel fibers (GAFs) inspired by the ultra-efficient thermal insulation of polar bear hair. By translating nature’s design into a scalable, coaxial-extrusion-spinning process, the team achieved a multifunctional fiber that sets records for both electrical conductivity and thermal insulation, paving the way for next-generation smart textiles.
Each fiber features a hierarchically porous, hollow structure, closely mimicking the air-trapping tubes of polar bear fur. During fabrication, graphene oxide (GO) nanoplates in the outer spinning channel self-assemble under shear stress into an arch-like microstructure, while a removable core material shapes the central cavity. After a hydrothermal reduction and high-temperature annealing - up to 2000 °C - the resulting structure combines low density with tunable electro-thermo-mechanical properties.
3DC showcases new 3D graphene nanomaterial for batteries at CES 2026
At CES 2026, Japanese startup 3DC showcased a new 3D graphene nanomaterial designed to improve fast-charging and high-power battery performance. The material, called Graphene MesoSponge (GMS), uses a porous, nanoscale structure that allows electrons to move more freely inside battery electrodes. Unlike flat graphene sheets, GMS forms a connected internal network, which 3DC says reduces resistance and improves charging efficiency.
Image credit: 3DC
Founded in 2022, 3DC is commercializing research that began nearly a decade earlier at Tohoku University. The company is backed by Open Innovation funding from Hyundai and is currently operating at pilot scale while working with global battery manufacturers.
Researchers develop magnetic graphene composite aerogel for efficient electromagnetic wave absorption and anti-corrosion
Electromagnetic wave absorption materials inevitably encounter corrosive conditions during service, making corrosion-resistant design essential for their practical deployment.
Researchers from China's Northwestern Polytechnical University have developed a magnetic graphene composite aerogel (reduced graphene oxide (rGO)/ porous hollow Ni/C microspheres (PHNiC)). The new aerogel reportedly demonstrates excellent impedance matching and electromagnetic attenuation, achieving a minimum reflection loss of −51.3 dB at a thickness of 2.5 mm and a broad effective absorption bandwidth of 6.64 GHz.
Graphene-oxide aerogel helps extract drinking water from air
An international scientific collaboration, led by the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation (ARC COE-CSI) UNSW Associate Professor Rakesh Joshi and Nobel Laureate Professor Sir Kostya Novoselov at the National University of Singapore (NUS), has developed a lightweight, sponge-like aerogel made from calcium-intercalated graphene oxide.
The nanomaterial can hold more than three times its weight in water and can achieve this far quicker than existing commercial technologies, features that enable its potential in direct applications for producing potable water from the air.
Researchers develop fabrication strategy for improved graphene aerogels
While graphene aerogels have advantageous properties like extremely low weight, high porosity and good electrical conductivity, engineers who tried to use them to develop pressure sensors have encountered some difficulties.
Image credit: Nano Letters 2024
Specifically, many of these materials have an intrinsically stiff microstructure, which poses limits on their strain sensing capabilities. Researchers from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Northumbria University, UCLA, University of Alberta and other institutes recently introduced a new fabrication strategy for synthesizing aerogel metamaterials to overcome this limitation. This strategy fabricates a durable graphene oxide-based aerogel metamaterial that exhibits a remarkable sensitivity to human touch and motion.
Graphene Composites USA selected to join U.S Military footwear project
Graphene Composites USA (GC) has been selected to participate in a research and development program between DEVCOM Soldier Center, Natick MA and UMass Lowell, to develop materials for the next generation of U.S. military footwear.
The program, SWIFT [Supporting Warfighters through Innovative Footwear Technologies], is offered by the HEROES (Harnessing Emerging Research Opportunities to Empower Soldiers) initiative and will see GC extend its patented GC Composite graphene and aerogel technology to develop ultra-lightweight, durable, insulative materials for use in extreme cold weather.
Black Swan Graphene partners with Graphene Composites on graphene-enhanced ballistic protection technology
Black Swan Graphene has announced it has entered into a commercial partnership with Graphene Composites (GC). The Companies will aim to incorporate Black Swan's graphene in the fabrication of GC Shield, a patented ballistic protection technology ("GC Shields").
The Company highlighted that GC Shields, with its patented graphene-aerogel composite, have unique force dispersion capabilities which protect users from multiple shots, stacked rounds, and edge impacts while maintaining minimum back face deformation. They are among the strongest, lightest, and most resilient ballistic shields on the market for the law enforcement and defense sectors, according to Black Swan.
Researchers propose "Universal Murray's Law" for synthetic materials
Researchers from the University of Cambridge, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Warwick and University of Namur have proposed a new materials theory based on "Murray's Law," applicable to a wide range of hierarchical structures, shapes and generalized transfer processes.
The scientists experimentally demonstrated optimal flow of various fluids in hierarchically planar and tubular graphene aerogel structures to validate the proposed law. By adjusting the macroscopic pores in such aerogel-based gas sensors, they also showed a significantly improved sensor response dynamics.
