Silica aerogels (SA) are identified as one of the most advanced thermal insulating materials to date, however, their range of applications is limited due to a high sensitivity to moisture and issues with brittleness. This study highlights the design and fabrication of a new and improved thermal insulation material, robust flexible hybrid silica nanofiber (SNF)-SA membranes. To allow for higher thermal insulating characteristics, these membranes form an interpenetrating network ...
Due to their high compressibility and resilience, nanofibrous aerogels (NFAs) have been proven to have positive insluative impacts on various applications with electronics and material damping. Up until this study, the fabrication of such nanofibers had proven to be very difficult. The scientists of this study homogenized nanofibre membranes, PAN/BA-a and SiO2 to create a nanofiber dispersion. This nanofiber dispersion was then freeze-dried to create uncrosslinked NFAs. The NFAs ...
