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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)
(Score: 2) by ledow on Friday April 27 2018, @04:19PM (2 children)
The second question is:
What can you build that will actually stay like that?
Aerogel doesn't like water. It doesn't like even mildly rough handling. It doesn't like chemicals.
Sure, you can put a bunsen under a thin layer and keep your hand on top. But you can't use it to insulate a building because the water will use it like a sponge and soak up the wall, destroying the aerogel's prime properties - insulation and weight.
Like a lot of things - graphene sheets, aerogels, etc. - they are fabulous lab items but not commercial materials yet. And the commercial materials will be very different.
A pure graphene string, for instance, would be utterly invisible and able to decapitate you without breaking. A thick strand that's barely visible would entangle a digger's hydraulics, bringing it to a grinding halt, and you wouldn't be able to break it. Do they sound like practical real-world materials to you?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Friday April 27 2018, @04:45PM
Can't you just cover the aerogel in Tyvek or plastic or something?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by leftover on Friday April 27 2018, @05:33PM
Current/old way aerogel is an open-pore foam due to the way it is made, displacing one fluid with another that then sublimates IIRC. This new process sounds like it is blowing closed-cell foam on a tiny scale. That would change absorption drastically and might even permit using a more resilient material than silica. I do wish they were a little more forthcoming about the other components of their secret sauce. This could be tried at home with low-tech items appropriated from the kitchen, then replaced when they are ruined!
Bent, folded, spindled, and mutilated.