Search

As promising candidates for widespread application, advanced ceramic fiber mats with robust mechanical properties are urgently needed. However, the brittleness, fatigue failure, and large density of ceramic fiber pose significant obstacles to its practical application. Herein, a novel SiO2 aerogel/ZrO2 composite nanofibrous membrane (SZCNFM) with excellent flexibility was prepared by introducing SiO2 aerogel nanoparticles into ZrO2 nanofiber via simple co‐electrospinning. The developed tetragonal zirconia phase without changing up to 1200°C endows SZCNFM material with excellent thermal stability. Furthermore, the as‐prepared membranes exhibit fatigue resistance ability which can maintain 98% of the original stress after 100 buckling cycle tests. The addition of mesoporous structure aerogel reduces the heat transfer of the nanofibrous membrane, giving its low thermal conductivity (30 mW/m/K) and low‐frequency sound absorption (noise reduction coefficient of 0.52). Combined with the high‐temperature resistance, low thermal conductivity and excellent sound‐absorption ability make it a promising material for heat insulation and acoustic absorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ceramic fibrous aerogels are highly desirable for thermal management materials due to their high porosity, excellent elasticity, thermal conductivity, and good thermal resistance. However, the fabrication of nanofibrous aerogel with super-elasticity and good shape retention at the same time has remained challenging. To meet the requirements, a novel anisotropy nanofibrous-granular aerogel with a quasi-layered multi-arch-like and hierarchical-cellular structure is designed and prepared by vacuum-filtration-assisted freeze-drying and sintering. The quasi-layered multi-arch and flexible nanofibers endowed the aerogels with excellent mechanical robustness (ultimate stress up to 60 kPa with strain 60%) and super-elasticity with recoverable compression strain up to 60%. The introduced SiO2 aerogel nanoparticles and nanofibers are assembled into an arch-like structure and become the connection point of adjacent nanofibers, which endows low thermal conductivity (0.024 mW/(mK)) of composite aerogel. This novel strategy provides a fresh perspective for the preparation of nanofibrous aerogel with robust mechanical in thermal insulation and other fields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]