Flexible transparent aerogels as window retrofitting films and optical elements with tunable birefringence

Liu, Qingkun; Frazier, Allister W.; Zhao, Xinpeng; Cruz, Joshua A. De La; Hess, Andrew J.; Yang, Ronggui; Smalyukh, Ivan I.

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2018.03.029

Cited by 70 publications

(89 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Novel polymeric aerogels with high transmittance to visible light can be applied to smart windows and skylights in energy‐saving building systems as shown in Figure 15A. [ 150 ] Additionally, Zhou et al. [ 100 ] reported an elastic hybrid CNF@MOF aerogels fabricated by a stepwise assembly approach involving the coating and crosslinking of CNFs with continuous nanolayers of MOFs (Figure 15B).…”

Section: Thermal Properties and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation

et al. 2021

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Aerogel is a nanoporous solid material with ultrahigh porosity, ultralow density, and thermal conductivity, which is considered to be one of the most promising high‐performance insulation materials today. However, traditional pure inorganic aerogels (i.e., silica aerogel) exhibit inherent structural brittleness, making their processing and handling difficult, and their manufacturing costs are relatively high, which limits their large‐scale practical use. The recently developed aerogel based on polymer nanofibers has ultralow thermal conductivity and density, excellent elasticity, and designable multifunction. More importantly, one‐dimensional polymer nanofibers are directly used as building blocks to construct the network of aerogels via a gelation‐free process. This greatly simplifies the aerogel preparation process, thereby bringing opportunities for large‐scale aerogel applications. The aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymer nanofibers is considered to be a very attractive strategy for obtaining highly flexible, easily available, and multifunctional composite aerogels. Therefore, this review summarizes the recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation. The main processing routes, porous microstructure, mechanical properties, and thermal properties and applications of these aerogels are highlighted. In addition, various future challenges faced by these aerogels in thermal insulation applications are discussed in this review.

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Section: Thermal Properties and Applicationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation

et al. 2021

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“…The nanocellulose concentration is ≈1 wt%, with the oxidation utilizing 2,2,6,6‐tetramethylpiperidine‐1‐oxyl radical under mild pH aqueous conditions, as described in details in ref. [ 24 ] . m) A TEM image of negatively stained individualized cellulose nanofibers like the ones forming the lyotropic LC shown in (k) and (l).…”

Section: Next Generation Of Buildings and Mesostructured Materials From Nanocellulosementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Such materials can be made from the most abundant biopolymer, cellulose, when derived from wood and even from dirty initial feedstocks like waste. [ 23–25 ] These bioinspired material designs can not only allow for more efficient energy uses, but also may enable solar heat harvesting, effectively transforming the current energy‐consuming buildings into power plants in the future. Moreover, the energy management within buildings can be combined with safe geoengineering [ 26 ] to mitigate the global climate change and local heat waves (especially in urban areas) by reflecting the excess solar radiation back into the space.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, the energy management within buildings can be combined with safe geoengineering [ 26 ] to mitigate the global climate change and local heat waves (especially in urban areas) by reflecting the excess solar radiation back into the space. While this research news mainly focuses on tunable solar reflectors and passive thermal barriers, [ 23–25,27–31 ] we note that the capabilities of radiative cooling can be potentially also added to these designs, including the ones based on wood‐derived naturally aligned cellulose. [ 32,33 ] While being developed to solve energy management problems here on Earth, various thermal management solutions are also needed for the exploration of space, like in extraterrestrial habitats.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Thermal Management by Engineering the Alignment of Nanocellulose

Smalyukh

2020

Advanced Materials

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One of the grand current research challenges is to improve the energy efficiency of residential and commercial buildings, which cumulatively consume more than 40% of the energy generated globally. In addition to improving the comfort of the inhabitants and mitigating the growing energy consumption problem, new building materials and technologies could provide a safe strategy for geoengineering to mitigate global climate change. Herein, recent progress in developing such advanced materials from nanocellulose, which is often derived from wood or even dirty feedstocks like waste, is reviewed. By using chemical and bacteria‐enabled processing, nanocellulose can be used to fabricate broadband photonic reflectors, thermally super‐insulating aerogels, solar gain regulators, and low‐emissivity coatings, with potential applications in windows, roofs, walls, and other components of buildings envelopes. These material developments draw inspiration from advanced energy management found in nature, such as the nanoporous photonic structures that evolved in cuticles of beetles. Fabrication of such materials takes advantage of mesoscale liquid crystalline self‐assembly, which allows for pre‐designed control of cellulose nanoparticle orientations at the mesoscale. With the potential fully realized, such materials could one day transform the current energy‐lossy buildings into energy plants on Earth and possibly even enable extraterrestrial habitats.

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“…Strategies for constructing wood-based functional materials can be classified into two categories, i.e., bottom-up assembly and top-down functionality. The bottom-up strategy mainly refers to the controllable assembly of cellulose microfibrils, nanocrystals, and nanofibrils into structures of fiber [3], membrane [4], hydrogel [5,6,7], sponge/aerogel [8], etc., while the top-down strategy makes use of the unique structure of wood that encompasses nanoscale, microscale, and macroscale features [9]. The latter strategy is deemed more efficient and cost-effective [9], and the obtained materials have shown great promise in the applications of electrochemical energy storage (EES) [10], transparent films [11], sensors [12], wave adsorption [13], solar steam generation [14], and so on.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rendering Wood Veneers Flexible and Electrically Conductive through Delignification and Electroless Ni Plating

et al. 2019

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Wood has unique advantages. However, the rigid structure and intrinsic insulating nature of wood limit its applications. Herein, a two-step process is developed to render wood veneers conductive and flexible. In the first step, most of the lignin and hemicellulose in the wood veneer are removed by hydrothermal treatment. In the second step, electroless Ni plating and subsequent pressing are carried out. The obtained Ni-plated veneer is flexible and bendable, and has a high tensile strength of 21.9 and 4.4 MPa along and across the channel direction, respectively, the former of which is considerably higher than that of carbon cloth and graphene foam. Moreover, this product exhibits high electrical conductivity around 1.1 × 103 S m−1, which is comparable to that of carbon cloth and graphene foam, and significantly outperforms previously reported wood-based conductors. This work reveals an effective strategy to transform cheap and renewable wood into a high value-added product that rivals expensive carbon cloth and graphene foam. The obtained product is particularly promising as a current collector for flexible and wearable electrochemical energy storage devices such as supercapacitors and Li-ion batteries.

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Flexible transparent aerogels as window retrofitting films and optical elements with tunable birefringence

Cited by 70 publications

References 28 publications

Recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation

Recent advances in novel aerogels through the hybrid aggregation of inorganic nanomaterials and polymeric fibers for thermal insulation

Thermal Management by Engineering the Alignment of Nanocellulose

Rendering Wood Veneers Flexible and Electrically Conductive through Delignification and Electroless Ni Plating

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