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Updated: Jan 21, 2026

Preparation of Biopolymer Aerogels Using Green Solvents
Published on: July 4, 2016
Hierarchical Cellular Structured Ceramic Nanofibrous Aerogels with Temperature-Invariant Superelasticity for Thermal
Lvye Dou1, Xinxin Zhang1, Xiaota Cheng1
1State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Textiles , Donghua University , Shanghai 201620 , P. R. China.
Abstract:
Silica aerogels are attractive for thermal insulation due to their low thermal conductivity and good heat resistance performance. However, the fabrication of silica aerogels with temperature-invariant superelasticity and ultralow thermal conductivity has remained extremely challenging. Herein, we designed and synthesized a hierarchical cellular structured silica nanofibrous aerogel by using electrospun SiO2 nanofibers (SNFs) and SiO2 nanoparticle aerogels (SNAs) as the matrix and SiO2 sol as the high-temperature nanoglue. This pathway leads to the intrinsically random deposited SNFs assembling into a fibrous cellular structure, and the SNAs are evenly distributed on the fibrous cell wall. The unique hierarchical cellular structure of the ceramic nanofibrous aerogels endows it with integrated performances of the ultralow density of ∼0.2 mg cm-3, negative Poisson's ratio, ultralow thermal conductivity (23.27 mW m-1 K-1), temperature-invariant superelasticity from -196 to 1100 °C, and editable shapes on a large scale. These favorable multifeatures present the aerogels ideal for thermal insulation in industrial, aerospace, and even extreme environmental conditions.
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