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Research Article

Semi-template based, biomimetic-architectured, and mechanically robust ceramic nanofibrous aerogels for thermal insulation

Lvye Dou1,2, Yang Si1( ), Jianyong Yu1, Bin Ding1( )
Innovation Center for Textile Science and Technology, College of Textiles, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, China
State Key Laboratory of New Ceramics and Fine Processing, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
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Graphical Abstract

Ceramic nanofibrous aerogels with uniform honeycomb-like cellular, carbon nanonet-enhanced triangular junction, and nanofiber/nanonet dual-fibrous cell wall were fabricated by using cellulose nanofibers as semi-template. The resultant aerogels exhibited temperature-invariant superelasticity, excellent bendability, rapid shape recovery performance, as well as excellent thermal insulation performance between −196 and 350 °C, displaying broad potential applications in extreme conditions.

Abstract

Energy efficient buildings require novel thermal insulators accompanied by lightweight, mechanically robust, fire resistant, and low thermal conductivity. Ceramic fibrous aerogels have emerged as promising candidates, however it’s difficult for these materials to achieve exceptional mechanical and thermal insulation performance simultaneously. Here, we demonstrate a unique semi-template method to fabricate biomimetic-architectured silica/carbon dual-fibrous aerogel with robust mechanical performance. Specifically, aerogels with honeycomb-like cellular and nanofiber/nanonet cell wall were constructed by freeze-drying the homogeneous dispersion of SiO2 nanofibers and cellulose nanofibers co-suspensions. It is worth noting that the biomimetic structure has been perfectly inherited even subjected to high-temperature carbonization. As a result, the excellent structural stability brought by the novel structure enables the aerogel to completely recover under large compression and buckling strain of 80%, and exhibit robust fatigue resistance over 200,000 cycles. More importantly, the aerogels exhibit ultralow thermal conductivity (0.023 W·m−1·K−1), superior flame retardancy, together with excellent thermal insulation performance over a wide temperature ranging from −196 to 350 °C. The fabrication of such materials may provide new ideas for the development of next-generation thermal insulators for harsh conditions.

Keywords

silica nanofibercarbon nanonetbiomimetic-architectured aerogelmechanically robustthermal insulation

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Nano Research
Volume 15 Issue 6,
June 2022
Pages 5581-5589
DOI: 10.1007/s12274-022-4194-9
Cite this article:
Dou L, Si Y, Yu J, et al. Semi-template based, biomimetic-architectured, and mechanically robust ceramic nanofibrous aerogels for thermal insulation. Nano Research, 2022, 15(6): 5581-5589. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-022-4194-9
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Received: 17 December 2021
Revised: 13 January 2022
Accepted: 24 January 2022
Published: 28 March 2022
© Tsinghua University Press 2022
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