Double-negative-index ceramic aerogels for thermal superinsulation

Xiang Xu; Qiangqiang Zhang; Menglong Hao; Yuan Hu; Zhaoyang Lin; Lele Peng; Tao Wang; Xuexin Ren; Chen Wang; Zipeng Zhao; Chengzhang Wan; Huilong Fei; Lei Wang; Jian Zhu; Hongtao Sun; Wenli Chen; Tao Du; Biwei Deng; Gary J Cheng; Imran Shakir; Chris Dames; Timothy S Fisher; Xiang Zhang; Hui Li; Yu Huang; Xiangfeng Duan

doi:10.1126/science.aav7304

Double-negative-index ceramic aerogels for thermal superinsulation

Science. 2019 Feb 15;363(6428):723-727. doi: 10.1126/science.aav7304.

Authors

Xiang Xu^{1

2}, Qiangqiang Zhang³, Menglong Hao^{4

5}, Yuan Hu⁶, Zhaoyang Lin¹, Lele Peng¹, Tao Wang¹, Xuexin Ren⁴, Chen Wang⁷, Zipeng Zhao⁷, Chengzhang Wan¹, Huilong Fei¹, Lei Wang⁸, Jian Zhu⁸, Hongtao Sun^{1

9}, Wenli Chen², Tao Du², Biwei Deng¹⁰, Gary J Cheng¹⁰, Imran Shakir¹¹, Chris Dames^{4

12}, Timothy S Fisher⁶, Xiang Zhang⁴, Hui Li¹³, Yu Huang¹⁴, Xiangfeng Duan¹⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
² Key Lab of Structures Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, P. R. China.
³ College of Civil Engineering and Mechanics, Key Laboratory of Mechanics on Disaster and Environment in Western China, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China.
⁴ Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Energy Thermal Conversion and Control of Ministry of Education, School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, Nanjing 210096, P. R. China.
⁶ Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and California NanoSystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁸ State Key Laboratory for Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha 410082, P. R. China.
⁹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ 07102, USA.
¹⁰ School of Industrial Engineering, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907, USA.
¹¹ Sustainable Energy Technologies Centre, College of Engineering, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
¹² Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹³ Key Lab of Structures Dynamic Behavior and Control of the Ministry of Education, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin 150090, P. R. China. xduan@chem.ucla.edu yhuang@seas.ucla.edu lihui@hit.edu.cn.
¹⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. xduan@chem.ucla.edu yhuang@seas.ucla.edu lihui@hit.edu.cn.
¹⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. xduan@chem.ucla.edu yhuang@seas.ucla.edu lihui@hit.edu.cn.

PMID: 30765563
DOI: 10.1126/science.aav7304

Abstract

Ceramic aerogels are attractive for thermal insulation but plagued by poor mechanical stability and degradation under thermal shock. In this study, we designed and synthesized hyperbolic architectured ceramic aerogels with nanolayered double-pane walls with a negative Poisson's ratio (-0.25) and a negative linear thermal expansion coefficient (-1.8 × 10^-6 per °C). Our aerogels display robust mechanical and thermal stability and feature ultralow densities down to ~0.1 milligram per cubic centimeter, superelasticity up to 95%, and near-zero strength loss after sharp thermal shocks (275°C per second) or intense thermal stress at 1400°C, as well as ultralow thermal conductivity in vacuum [~2.4 milliwatts per meter-kelvin (mW/m·K)] and in air (~20 mW/m·K). This robust material system is ideal for thermal superinsulation under extreme conditions, such as those encountered by spacecraft.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.