Chitosan (CTS) aerogel is a new type of functional material that could be possibly applied in the thermal insulation field, especially in energy-saving buildings. However, the inhibition method for the very big shrinkage of CTS aerogels from the final gel to the aerogel is challenging, causing great difficulty in achieving a near-net shape of CTS aerogels. Here, this study explored a facile strategy for restraining CTS-based aerogels' inherent shrinkage depending on the chemical crosslinking and the interpenetrated supramolecular interaction by introducing nanofibrillar cellulose (NFC) and polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) chains. The effects of different aspect ratios of NFC on the CTS-based aerogels were systematically analyzed. The results showed that the optimal aspect ratio for NFC introduction was 37.5 from the comprehensive property perspective. CTS/PVA/NFC hybrid aerogels with the aspect ratio of 37.5 for NFC gained a superior thermal conductivity of 0.0224 W/m K at ambient atmosphere (the cold surface temperature was only 33.46 °C, despite contacting the hot surface of 80.46 °C), a low density of 0.09 g/cm3, and a relatively high compressive stress of 0.51 MPa at 10% strain.
Keywords: chitosan aerogels; mechanical property; nanofibrillar cellulose; shrinkage; thermal insulation.