What can aerogel gel insulation be used for? Is aerogel reliable for clothing?

The discovery of aerogel insulation:

In 1931, American scientist Samuel Stephenskistler prepared the new material and named it "aerogel". "Aero" + "Gel" describe the new material's characteristics as a gel filled with gas. Aerogels have one important characteristic compared to ordinary porous materials: their skeleton is at the nanoscale. As a result, visible light scatters less when it passes through and looks like "frozen smoke." Aerogels are extremely low density and are the lightest solid in the world. At present, there is no lighter material than aerogel, "all-carbon aerogel", which has a density of only 0.16mg/cm³ (minus the density of air), only a sixth of the density of air. When this material is placed on flowers, the soft stamens show little distortion.

How is aerogel insulation material/aerogel insulation cotton produced?

The preparation process of aerogel is divided into two steps: the wet gel is prepared and the wet gel is dried by special technique. The most traditional preparation method of wet gel is sol-gel method. The compounds containing high chemical active components are dispersed in the solvent, and the active monomer is generated through hydrolysis reaction. The active monomer is polymerized to form the sol, and then the gel with a certain spatial structure is generated. The resulting gel is somewhat Jell-like, and then the Jell-like gel is further dried to produce aerogel. Under normal conditions, due to surface tension, the fluid inside the gel evaporates, causing the gel's fragile skeleton to collapse. The freeze-drying technology can solve this problem. The wet gel was frozen at a low temperature and then dried under vacuum conditions. Since the freezing process has turned the liquid inside the gel into a solid, it then sublimates out of the gel skeleton in a vacuum. This avoids the collapse of the skeleton caused by the volatilization of the liquid and gives us the desired aerogel.

Application of aerogel insulation material:

I believe everyone will have such a question. With the mature production process of aerogel insulation material aerogel cotton has been quietly existing in our life, such as clothing world famous outdoor brands Columbia, Arcteryx, Jack Wolfskin Wolf's Claw and domestic Hailan House. Millet in terms of thermal insulation are take the aerogel insulation materials, electrical and electronic appliances international well-known brand in electronic refrigerator, dressing equipment, some fever high products is also gradually to increase the application of aerogel insulation, travel in ningde era in new energy car battery insulation and byd began applications such as roof insulation aerogels, Insulation cotton aerogel made of aerogel insulation material, aerogel insulation film because of "it has very low thermal conductivity, can be used as a super insulation material", "it can be used as an electrode", "it can be used for pollution control" in a variety of different fields and different scenarios.

In general, the properties of aerogel materials are mainly contributed by two parts: one is the structure, and simply the properties derived from the porous properties, such as excellent thermal insulation. When a flower is heated by a flame through aerogel, it does little damage to the flower. In addition, some aerogels also exhibit excellent adsorption properties, such as "carbon sponge". Aerogel can be made into thermal insulation felt, which is soft, easy to cut, low density, inorganic fire prevention, overall hydrophobic, green and environmental protection, etc. As a material born in the early 20th century, aerogel does not belong to the "new material" discovered recently. However, its excellent properties in various aspects have attracted widespread attention. The application of this thermal insulation material still needs to be studied and explored.