Nanofibrous Aerogel Bulk Assembled by Cross-Linked SiC/SiO_x Core–Shell Nanofibers with Multifunctionality and Temperature-Invariant Hyperelasticity

Abstract

Nanofibrous aerogels constructed solely by ceramic components with temperature-invariant hyperelasticity could have broad technological implications in extreme environments. However, creating such materials has proven to be extremely challenging. Despite the results from laboratory, those aerogels are, unfortunately, still plagued with issues that would retard their further application: inferior structural integrity, failure at large compressive deformation, high production cost, and inability to withstand rigorous working conditions. To tackle these challenges, we report a facile strategy combining the chemical vapor deposition process and layer-by-layer self-assembly to construct hyperelastic SiC nanofibrous aerogels with three-dimensional porous architecture and improved structural integrity. The resultant aerogels outperform their natural counterparts and most state-of-the-art ceramic nanofibrous aerogels in their capability to quickly recover from large compressive deformation (50% strain), function in a wide range of temperatures, from −196 °C to 1100 °C in air, maintain high particle matter removal efficiency of >99.96%, and rapidly absorb various organic solvents and oils with high capacity and robust recoverability. Nanofibrous aerogels constructed by such a versatile method could provide fresh insights into the exploration of multifunctional nanofibrous aerogels for a variety of applications in extreme environments.

Flexible Ceramic Fibers: Recent Development in Preparation and Application

“…Particulate matter (PM) pollution cause serious harm to human health, and effective removal of PMs has become an urgent need in various fields. So far, various filtration materials have been developed, and ceramic fiber-based filters are offer a advanced filtration technology developed in recent years, comparatively [4,5,7,20,98]. Because ceramic fibers have larger specific surface area and smaller pore diameter, they exhibit higher filtration efficiency and lower gas resistance to PMs compared to traditional granular filters and foam ceramic filter materials.…”

“…FCFs two-dimensional ceramic fiber, films and three-dimensional ceramic fiber aerogels usually possess low density, low thermal conductivity, large specific surface area and many other excellent properties. Due to the superior properties of FCFs, they have been widely used in the fields of thermal insulation [1][2][3], air filtration [4,5], water treatment [6][7][8], sound absorption [3,9], etc.…”

Design, Synthesis, and Use of High Temperature Resistant Aerogels Exceeding 800 oC

“…[103] Aerogel prepared by this method can be prepared with adjustable macrostructures (such as tube, block, and spherical building blocks) by changing the appearance and shape of the carbon source, which is important to obtain HTR performance. [40]…”

“…SiC aerogel) can maintain good mechanical strength and antioxidant properties above 1500 ℃, and have excellent insulation effect. [39,40] Therefore, carbide aerogels have drawn great interests in their potential applications in high temperature insulation.…”

Super-elasticity at 4K of Covalently Crosslinked Polyimide Aerogels with Ultrahigh Negative Poisson’s Ratio

“…For instance, graphene coated carbon nanotubes (CNTs) aerogels [7][8][9][10] and CNFs aerogels 11 can bear compressive strain of 50% to 90% at 173 K. Notably, Chen et al created graphene aerogels with satisfying recoverability under 98% compressive strain at 77 K 12 or resilience under 90% strain at the deep cryogenic temperature of 4 K 13 . Moreover, ceramic aerogels of BN nanoribbon and nanofibrous SiO2-based composites are also in possession of compressive super-elasticity at 77 K [14][15][16][17] . These newly emerged carbon and ceramic aerogels make significant promotion for the development of elastic materials in deep cryogenic environments, while their complex fabrication process and high cost still raise misgivings.…”