A Cut-Resistant and Highly Restorable Graphene Foam

High-pressure resistant and multidirectional compressible materials enable various applications but are often hindered by structure-derived collapse and weak elasticity. Here, a super-robust graphene foam with ladder shape microstructure capable of withstanding high pressure is presented. The multioriented ladder arrays architecture of the foam, consisting of thousands of identically sized square spaces, endow it with a great deal of elastic units. It can easily bear an iterative and multidirectional pressure of 44.5 MPa produced by a sharp blade, and may completely recover to its initial state by a load of 180 000 times their own weight even under 95% strain. More importantly, the foam can also maintain structural integrity after experiencing a pressure of 2.8 GPa through siphoning. Computational modeling of the “buckling of shells” mechanism reveals the unique ladder-shaped graphene foam contributes to the superior cut resistance and good resilience. Based on this finding, it can be widely used in cutting resistance sensors, monitoring of sea level, and the detection of oily contaminants in water delivery pipelines.