Scalable Fabrication of Resilient SiC Nanowires Aerogels with Exceptional High-Temperature Stability

Abstract

Resilient ceramic aerogels exhibit great potential for applications in harsh environments owing to their unique combination of ultrahigh porosity, lightweight, reversible compressibility, and good thermal and chemical stabilities. However, their applications are severely restricted by the limited size and low yield due to their complicated and time-consuming synthetic procedures. Herein, we developed an efficient method for large-scale production of resilient SiC nanowire aerogels (SiC NWAGs) with tunable densities and desired shapes. The as-synthesized SiC NWAGs displayed excellent high-temperature stability (the maximum working temperature in Ar and air can reach to 1400 and 1000 °C, respectively), outstanding flame-erosion resistance and low thermal conductivity (25 mW m–1 K–1). The easy fabrication of such ceramic aerogel on a large scale will pave the way for the widespread applications of ceramic aerogels.

Printed aerogels: chemistry, processing, and applications

“…54,55 Non-oxide ceramic aerogels include nitrides (e.g., boron nitride (BN), 5,56 silicon nitride (Si 3 N 4 ), 57 ), and carbides (e.g., silicon carbide (SiC) 58 ), and MXene 59 (a 2D carbide and nitride family of transition metals (M), where X represents carbon or nitrogen) aerogels also belong to this group. Non-oxide ceramic aerogels are always prepared by an aerogel template method via a gassolid phase reaction at high temperature, 5,57,58 or by a colloidal dispersion method using the corresponding nanomaterials directly as the building blocks. 59 Thanks to the excellent thermal stability of non-oxide ceramics, these aerogels can usually be used at higher temperatures than oxide aerogels.…”

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

“…[102] More importantly, the CVD method can be used to successfully scale up the production of SiC nanowires. [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]…”

Fabrication and application of macroscopic nanowire aerogels

“…Many types of 1D nanostructured ceramic materials including oxide ceramic nanofibers, 26,41,45,82 SiC nanowires, 38,53,83 Si 3 N 4 84 and BN 85 nanobelts have been prepared to the form of aerogels that show temperature-invariant superelasticity, low thermal conductivity, and fire resistance. In 2018, Ding's group prepared ceramic nanofibrous aerogels (Fig.…”

“…100,101 This solar-driven steam process can be applied to purify wastewater and desalinate sea water, which could potentially solve the global issue regarding freshwater shortage. 83,84 In order to build an efficient solar steam generation device, it is essential to develop photothermal materials with broad light adsorption, low thermal conductivity and high porosities for quick water transportation. Nanowire aerogels, due to their inherent porous structure, high thermal insulation and mechanical flexibility could meet the requirements of the photothermal materials for efficient solar evaporators.…”