Graphene oxide-reinforced thin shells for high-performance, lightweight cement composites

Lightweight cement composites have been proposed in the literature, fabricated by controlling the cement coating onto 3D-printed polymer scaffolds to form submillimeter thin-shell structures. In this study, we adopted graphene oxide (GO) to reinforce the thin-shell structures and modify the weak interface between polymer scaffold and cement paste to produce high-performance, lightweight cement composites. The results indicated the thickness of thin shells was maintained constant for different GO dosages by controlling the workability of cement paste. GO significantly reduced high-porosity regions between the cement matrix and polymer scaffold, along with the microstructure refinement of the cement matrix and promoted the formation of low-density calcium-silicate-hydrates (from 50% to up to 66%). The GO shows a much higher reinforcing efficiency than traditional bulk cement, where the composites' compressive strength and specific energy absorption were increased significantly by up to 91% and 78%, respectively, with 0.01 wt% dosage. Compared with traditional lightweight concrete, the compressive strength of the GO-reinforced composites was increased by up to 20-fold. This study promoted understanding of the reinforcing mechanism of GO in thin-shell structures and demonstrated the effectiveness of GO for enhancing the performance of novel lightweight cementitious composites with a wide range of applications for load-bearing, energy absorption, decoration, and thermal insulation.

Automated summary

In this study, graphene oxide (GO) was used to reinforce and modify the interface of lightweight cement composites. The results showed that GO significantly reduced high-porosity regions between the cement matrix and polymer scaffold, leading to the formation of low-density calcium-silicate-hydrates. The GO-reinforced composites exhibited significantly increased compressive strength and specific energy absorption. This study enhances our understanding of the reinforcing mechanism of GO in thin-shell structures and demonstrates its effectiveness in improving the performance of lightweight cementitious composites.