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Thermally insulating and fire-retardant lightweight anisotropic foams based on nanocellulose and graphene oxide.
- Source :
-
Nature Nanotechnology . Mar2015, Vol. 10 Issue 3, p277-283. 7p. - Publication Year :
- 2015
-
Abstract
- High-performance thermally insulating materials from renewable resources are needed to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Traditional fossil-fuel-derived insulation materials such as expanded polystyrene and polyurethane have thermal conductivities that are too high for retrofitting or for building new, surface-efficient passive houses. Tailored materials such as aerogels and vacuum insulating panels are fragile and susceptible to perforation. Here, we show that freeze-casting suspensions of cellulose nanofibres, graphene oxide and sepiolite nanorods produces super-insulating, fire-retardant and strong anisotropic foams that perform better than traditional polymer-based insulating materials. The foams are ultralight, show excellent combustion resistance and exhibit a thermal conductivity of 15 mW m−1 K−1, which is about half that of expanded polystyrene. At 30 °C and 85% relative humidity, the foams retained more than half of their initial strength. Our results show that nanoscale engineering is a promising strategy for producing foams with excellent properties using cellulose and other renewable nanosized fibrous materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *GRAPHENE oxide
*GRAPHENE
*OXIDES
*GRAPHITE oxide
*POLYMERS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 17483387
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 3
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Nature Nanotechnology
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 101382271
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.248