Superhydrophobic tough hierarchical porous thermal insulation composites prepared by in situ formation of silica aerogel in collagen fiber matrix

Abstract

The serious problem of energy consumption and the requirement for sustainable development has attracted people's extensive attention. The application of high-efficiency thermal insulation materials can reduce consumption and waste in the process of energy transfer, and is the most effective way to save energy and protect the environment. Among many thermal insulation materials, silica aerogel, especially biomass fiber-reinforced silica aerogel with good mechanical strength, shows great practical application potential. In this article, the collagen fiber-silica aerogel composite (MCFF@SiO 2 ) was successfully prepared by in situ sol-gel method and freeze-drying method, innovatively using skin collagen fiber matrix with natural porous skeleton as reinforcing template. MCFF@SiO 2 has good thermal stability, and has a hierarchical porous structure formed by filling nanoscale mesopores of silica aerogel in the macropores of collagen fiber matrix, thus delaying the spread of heat. Particularly, MCFF@SiO 2 exhibits good thermal insulation performance, and its thermal conductivity is 0.068 W/(m K), which is lower than that of MCFF. In addition, MCFF@SiO 2 shows superhydrophobicity, good mechanical properties, excellent flame retardancy, and self-extinguishing performance. The prepared composite aerogels have potential application value in the field of thermal management, and this work is expected to provide inspiration for the preparation of biomass-based porous functional materials.

Silica–Chitosan Composite Aerogels for Thermal Insulation and Adsorption

“…The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https: //www.mdpi.com/article/10.3390/cryst13050755/s1, Figure S1 S1: Density, thermal conductivity and porosity of SA; Table S2: Density, thermal conductivity and porosity of CA; Table S3: Density and thermal conductivity of SCA; Table S4: Comparison of calculated and measured density values for SCA; Table S5: Specific surface area and pore size distribution of SCA; Table S6: Comparison of calculated and measured values of pore volumes for SCA; Table S7: The comparison of thermal conductivity of SCA and previously reported materials; Table S8: Viscosity and density of different organic solvents; References [37][38][39][40][41] are cited in the supplementary materials. Data Availability Statement: Data underlying the results presented in this paper are not publicly available at this time but may be obtained from the authors on reasonable request.…”