Nanofibrous Kevlar Aerogel Threads for Thermal Insulation in Harsh Environments.

Aerogel with low density, high porosity, and large surface area is a promising structure for the next generation of high-performance thermal insulation fibers and textiles. However, aerogel fibers suffer from weak mechanical properties or complex fabricating processes. Herein, a facile wet-spinning approach for fabricating nanofibrous Kevlar (KNF) aerogel threads ( i.e., aerogel fibers) with high thermal insulation under extreme environments is demonstrated. The aerogel fibers made from nanofibrous Kevlar render a high specific surface area (240 m2/g) and wide-temperature thermal stability. The flexible and strong KNF aerogel fibers are woven into textiles to illustrate the excellent thermal insulation property under extreme temperature (-196 or +300 °C) and at room temperature. COMSOL simulation is applied to calculate the thermal conductivity of a single aerogel fiber and find an effective way to improve the thermal insulation property of the aerogel fiber. Furthermore, a series of functionalized fibers or textiles based on KNF aerogel fibers, such as phase-change fibers, conductive fibers, and hydrophobic textiles, have been prepared. Such KNF aerogel fibers represent a promising direction for the next generation of high-performance fibrous thermal-insulation materials.

[1]  Sung-Ho Shin,et al.  Nonstop Monomer-to-Aramid Nanofiber Synthesis with Remarkable Reinforcement Ability , 2019, Macromolecules.

[2]  M. Österberg,et al.  Eco-friendly Flame-Retardant Cellulose Nanofibril Aerogels by Incorporating Sodium Bicarbonate , 2018, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[3]  Gustav Nyström,et al.  Biopolymer Aerogels and Foams: Chemistry, Properties, and Applications. , 2018, Angewandte Chemie.

[4]  Wenhui Song,et al.  Multiresponsive Graphene‐Aerogel‐Directed Phase‐Change Smart Fibers , 2018, Advanced materials.

[5]  B. Ding,et al.  Ultralight and fire-resistant ceramic nanofibrous aerogels with temperature-invariant superelasticity , 2018, Science Advances.

[6]  Dewen Li,et al.  A Thermally Insulating Textile Inspired by Polar Bear Hair , 2018, Advanced materials.

[7]  Hongjie Wang,et al.  Ultralight, Recoverable, and High-Temperature-Resistant SiC Nanowire Aerogel. , 2018, ACS nano.

[8]  N. Kotov,et al.  Branched Aramid Nanofibers. , 2017, Angewandte Chemie.

[9]  G. Rutledge,et al.  50th Anniversary Perspective: Advanced Polymer Fibers: High Performance and Ultrafine , 2017 .

[10]  J. Wan,et al.  Cellulose Aerogel Membranes with a Tunable Nanoporous Network as a Matrix of Gel Polymer Electrolytes for Safer Lithium-Ion Batteries. , 2017, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[11]  Satish Kumar,et al.  Structural and Functional Fibers , 2017 .

[12]  N. Kotov,et al.  High Strength Conductive Composites with Plasmonic Nanoparticles Aligned on Aramid Nanofibers , 2016 .

[13]  Xudong Cheng,et al.  Aramid fibers reinforced silica aerogel composites with low thermal conductivity and improved mechanical performance , 2016 .

[14]  E. Kauppinen,et al.  Ambient‐Dried Cellulose Nanofibril Aerogel Membranes with High Tensile Strength and Their Use for Aerosol Collection and Templates for Transparent, Flexible Devices , 2015 .

[15]  T. Gries,et al.  Production of porous cellulose aerogel fibers by an extrusion process , 2015 .

[16]  Markus Antonietti,et al.  Thermally insulating and fire-retardant lightweight anisotropic foams based on nanocellulose and graphene oxide. , 2015, Nature nanotechnology.

[17]  Byeong‐Su Kim,et al.  Highly tunable interfacial adhesion of glass fiber by hybrid multilayers of graphene oxide and aramid nanofiber. , 2015, ACS applied materials & interfaces.

[18]  B. Ding,et al.  Ultralight nanofibre-assembled cellular aerogels with superelasticity and multifunctionality , 2014, Nature Communications.

[19]  Lars Wågberg,et al.  Nanocellulose aerogels functionalized by rapid layer-by-layer assembly for high charge storage and beyond. , 2013, Angewandte Chemie.

[20]  R. Bagherzadeh,et al.  An investigation in structural parameters of needle-punched nonwoven fabrics on their thermal insulation property , 2013, Fibers and Polymers.

[21]  Chao Gao,et al.  Multifunctional, Ultra‐Flyweight, Synergistically Assembled Carbon Aerogels , 2013, Advanced materials.

[22]  Lan Jiang,et al.  Highly Compression‐Tolerant Supercapacitor Based on Polypyrrole‐mediated Graphene Foam Electrodes , 2013, Advanced materials.

[23]  Chao Gao,et al.  Strong, conductive, lightweight, neat graphene aerogel fibers with aligned pores. , 2012, ACS nano.

[24]  K. Müllen,et al.  3D nitrogen-doped graphene aerogel-supported Fe3O4 nanoparticles as efficient electrocatalysts for the oxygen reduction reaction. , 2012, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[25]  Markus J. Buehler,et al.  Nonlinear material behaviour of spider silk yields robust webs , 2012, Nature.

[26]  A. Waas,et al.  Dispersions of aramid nanofibers: a new nanoscale building block. , 2011, ACS nano.

[27]  Meifen Wu,et al.  Photocatalysis-enhanced electrosorption process for degradation of high-concentration dye wastewater on TiO2/carbon aerogel , 2011 .

[28]  F. Omenetto,et al.  New Opportunities for an Ancient Material , 2010, Science.

[29]  T. Choi,et al.  Focused ion beam-assisted manipulation of single and double β-SiC nanowires and their thermal conductivity measurements by the four-point-probe 3-ω method , 2010, Nanotechnology.

[30]  Guglielmo Ventura,et al.  Thermal conductivity of Kevlar 49 between 7 and 290 K , 2009 .

[31]  Xiaohong Qin,et al.  Thermal radiative properties of electrospun superfine fibrous PVA films , 2008 .

[32]  G. Meacock.  Production of fibres from 6, 6‐, 6, 10‐ and 6‐polyamides , 2007 .

[33]  D. Klemm,et al.  Cellulose: fascinating biopolymer and sustainable raw material. , 2005, Angewandte Chemie.

[34]  A. Hunt,et al.  Geometric Structure and Thermal Conductivity of Porous Medium Silica Aerogel , 1995 .

[35]  J. Collier,et al.  Extrusion of highly oriented polyolefin fibers , 1976 .

[36]  Meifang Zhu,et al.  Construction of continuous hollow silica aerogel fibers with hierarchical pores and excellent adsorption performance , 2019, Microporous and Mesoporous Materials.

[37]  N. Kotov,et al.  Water‐Rich Biomimetic Composites with Abiotic Self‐Organizing Nanofiber Network , 2018, Advanced materials.

[38]  Wenshuai Chen,et al.  Comparative study of aerogels obtained from differently prepared nanocellulose fibers. , 2014, ChemSusChem.

[39]  C. S. Fuller,et al.  Chain Structure of Linear Polyesters—Trimethylene Glycol Series , 1942 .