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posted by takyon on Friday April 27 2018, @11:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the aerocake dept.

A team of international scientists have created a new form of highly-efficient, low-cost insulation based on the wings of a dragonfly. The material, known as an aerogel, is the most porous material known to man and ultralight, with a piece the size of a family car weighing less than a kilogram.

Starting out as a wet silica gel, similar in structure to jelly, the material is carefully dried to create a strong, porous material. But until now, removing the water molecules without collapsing the fine silica structure has been a long, difficult and expensive process and as a consequence, the use of aerogels has been limited to a few highly specialist tasks, such as the collection of stardust in space.

Now a team of experts led by Newcastle University, UK, has managed to cheaply replicate the process by mimicking the way in which the dragonfly dries out its wings. Instead of drying the silica under high temperature and pressure, the team used bicarbonate of soda (the same used to make cakes rise) to 'blow' out the water molecules, trapping carbon dioxide gas in the pores. Publishing their findings today in the academic journal Advanced Materials, the team say the next step will be to scale up the process to create larger panels that can be used to insulate our homes and buildings.

[...] Joint lead author Dr Xiao Han, Newcastle University, said the new technique would reduce the cost of production by 96% -- from around $100 to $4 per kilogram.

Bioinspired Synthesis of Monolithic and Layered Aerogels (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201706294) (DX)


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  • (Score: 2) by SunTzuWarmaster on Friday April 27 2018, @01:40PM (1 child)

    by SunTzuWarmaster (3971) on Friday April 27 2018, @01:40PM (#672575)
    I think this pricing is a byproduct of lightness, when what you need is *volume* for the above tasks. Price/volume of sprayfoam is likely much cheaper than gossamer. Someone willing to do the math?
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  • (Score: 3, Informative) by Osamabobama on Friday April 27 2018, @07:32PM

    by Osamabobama (5842) on Friday April 27 2018, @07:32PM (#672749)

    I started down that rabbit hole, exploring the Supporting Materials document at the Wiley site (it seems my employer has access). I skimmed the document for density, and found numbers from 0.32 to 0.63 grams per cubic centimeter (depending on the preparation recipe). That seems too heavy. Later, I found specific volume of the pores, ranging from 0.66 to 0.96 cubic centimeters per gram (depending on the sample type). So I'm not sure if the bulk density is the two numbers multiplied together, or what the $4 per kg actually buys.

    Beyond that, I found a reference to a guy getting a quote for a 40 foot shipping container delivered 300 miles for $780. Other sources suggest $3 to $6 per mile. I'm fairly certain that will dwarf the cost of manufacturing, if a car-sized lump is only $4. Maybe a better question is how much will it cost to make on-site?

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