Which important areas are aerogels mainly used in?

Aerogel overview

Aerogel is a kind of lightweight nanoporous amorphous solid material with a spatial network structure composed of colloidal particles or polymer molecules cross-linked with each other. Due to its unique properties such as high porosity, low density, and large specific surface area, Thermal, acoustics, optics, electricity, etc. have great application potential.

Silica Aerogel is the most common type of aerogel and the most widely studied and used aerogel. It is silica-based and can be derived from silica gel or through a modified Stober process. The lowest density silica nanofoam weighs 1000 g/m 3 and is a vacuum version, recording 1900 g/m 3 aerogel. The air density is 1200 g/m 3 (at 20°C and 1 atmosphere). As of 2013, the low density of aviation graphene is 160 g/m 3 and the density at room temperature is 13%.

 The silica is solidified into three-dimensional entangled clusters, accounting for only 3% of the volume. Therefore, the conduction through solids is very low. The remaining 97% of the volume is composed of air in tiny nanopores. There is almost no space for air to move, thus suppressing convection and gas-phase conduction. Silica aerogel also has high optical transmittance of about 99% and a low refractive index of about 1.05.

 This aerogel has excellent thermal insulation properties and extremely low thermal conductivity: from 0.03 W / (m·K) under atmospheric pressure to 0.004 W / (m·K) under medium vacuum is equivalent to a thickness of 3.5 inches (89 mm), the R-value is 14 to 105 (U.S. customary) or 3.0 to 22.2 (metric). For comparison, for the same thickness, the typical wall insulation is 13 (US standard) or 2.7 (metric). The melting point is 1,473 K (1,200°C; 2,192°F).

 As of 2011, silica aerogel held the record of 15 material properties in the Guinness World Records, including the best insulator and the lowest density solid, although the latter was replaced by lighter copper-iron ore in 2012. Made of copper ironstone in 2013.

In the study of fractal structure,silicon aerogel is a nanoporous material with a controllable structure.The density obviously depends on the size of the scale. Within a certain range, its density tends to be the same, that is, the density changes with the scale.It also has a self-similar structure. The dynamic structure of the aerogel fractal structure also shows that there are three excitation regions at different scales,and their dispersion relationships are obviously different, corresponding to phonons and fractals, respectively. And the excitation of particle mode.Changing the aerogel preparation conditions can change the correlation length within two orders of magnitude. Therefore, silica aerogel has become the best material for studying the fractal structure and its dynamic behavior.

Silica aerogel is a typical thermal insulation material, usually used to improve the thermal performance of onshore and offshore industrial infrastructure and buildings. So far, the main products on the market are silica aerogel-based blankets made by casting silica sol into a porous or fibrous matrix, then gelling, hydrophobizing and (supercritical) drying. Considering the diffusion efficiency of reagents and solvents used in the formulation, the reduced gel size can speed up and simplify the sol-gel, hydrophobization and drying process. Therefore, particle-based products and semi-finished products derived from silica aerogel particles and powder additives are attractive solutions for inexpensive aerogel applications.

Aerogel applications

People use microstructures to impart the properties of silica aerogels, and through appropriate processing of silica aerogel materials, they are widely used in the fields of heat insulation, optics, electricity, catalysis, and medicine.

1. Insulation field

Silica aerogel has a very low density. Compared with traditional insulation materials, it can achieve the same insulation effect with a lighter weight and smaller volume. Now it has been demonstrated in aerospace, military and civilian fields. Broad application prospects. For example, the British "Puma" fighter jet uses silica aerogel thermal insulation composite material as the cabin thermal insulation layer. The use of silica aerogel thermal insulation composites on weapon power devices can not only effectively prevent the spread of heat sources, but also facilitate the anti-infrared reconnaissance of the weapon itself. In the field of building materials, silica aerogel is also an excellent environmentally friendly, efficient, heat-insulating and light-weight building material. Better transparency and good insulation also make it a promising window insulation material.

2. Optical field

The nano-porous structure of silica aerogel makes it have a long mean free path in the visible light range and has a good light transmittance. When it is used as a light-transmitting material, the reflection light loss can be neglected. The optical anti-reflection film prepared by using the optical properties of silica aerogel can be applied to the fields of high-power laser system optical components, display devices, and solar cell-protective glass.

3. Electricity field

The ultra-low dielectric constant makes silica aerogel can be widely used as high-temperature wave-transmitting materials for missiles in the electrical field.

4. Catalysis

The unique nanoporous three-dimensional network structure results in its ultra-fine particles, high porosity, high specific surface area, low density and other characteristics, which makes it have strong adsorption, and greatly improves the activity, selectivity, and life of the supported catalyst. It is superior to traditional catalysts and therefore has great application value in the field of catalysis.

5. Medical field

Silica aerogel has a very high porosity, and also has a certain degree of biocompatibility and biodegradability, so it can be used in biomedical fields such as diagnostic agents, artificial tissues, human organs, and organ components. If the drug is carried by adsorbing related solutions, it can be applied to medical activities such as drug-loaded delivery and controlled release systems. Moreover, the sensitive response of the silica aerogel-loaded enzyme to the reaction and existence of the organism can be used to manufacture the biosensor.

The price of aerogel

The price of aerogel will vary randomly with the production cost, transportation cost, international situation, exchange rate, and market supply and demand of aerogel. Tanki New Materials Co.,Ltd aims to help all industries and chemical wholesalers find high-quality, low-cost nanomaterials and chemicals by providing a full set of customized services. If you are looking for an aerogel, please feel free to send it to get the latest aerogel price of aerogel.

Aerogel supplier

As a global supplier of global nano aerogels, Tanki New Materials Co.,Ltd. has extensive experience in the performance, application, and cost-effective manufacturing of advanced technology and engineering materials. The company has successfully developed a series of powder materials (including oxides, carbides, nitrides, single metals, etc.), high-purity targets, functional ceramics, and structural devices, and provides OEM services.