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Peer-reviewedCC BY-NC-ND 4.0Nature Communications

Mechanically resilient, hybrid silicone aerogel for thermal insulation, daytime radiative cooling and sustained flame protection

  • Zibei Zhang1
  • Meng Li1,2
  • Dewen Li1
  • Weiwei Gao3
  • Hao Bai1,2,4
4 affiliations
  1. 1State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Low-carbon Technology, College of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
  2. 2ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China
  3. 3Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
  4. 4Institute of Fundamental and Transdisciplinary Research, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China
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Abstract

Aerogels are ideal materials for thermal insulation and protection. However, ceramic and carbon aerogels are generally brittle, whereas polymer aerogels often collapse and lose insulation capability under flame exposure, compromising effective thermal management across both daily use and fire emergencies. We construct a hybrid silicone aerogel with continuous silicone matrix reinforced by a silica network, enabling low thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical resilience and a unique flame-induced nano-hollowing ceramization process. Under flame, the nano-hollowing process yields an efficient thermal barrier with an unexpected decrease in thermal conductivity, enabling a 10-mm-thin panel to maintain its back-side temperature below 120 °C for at least 25 min. In addition, the aerogel provides daytime radiative cooling of 7.7 °C under midday solar irradiation. With such multifunctionality and fabrication scalability, our silicone aerogel is desirable for many strategic areas such as energy-efficient buildings and electric vehicles, where effective thermal management and sustained flame protection are greatly demanded.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{zhang2026mechanically,
  title = {{Mechanically resilient, hybrid silicone aerogel for thermal insulation, daytime radiative cooling and sustained flame protection}},
  author = {Zibei Zhang and Meng Li and Dewen Li and Weiwei Gao and Hao Bai},
  journal = {Nature Communications},
  year = {2026},
  month = sep,
  doi = {10.1038/s41467-026-78091-x},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78091-x},
  note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Mechanically resilient, hybrid silicone aerogel for thermal insulation, daytime radiative cooling and sustained flame protection
AU  - Zibei Zhang
AU  - Meng Li
AU  - Dewen Li
AU  - Weiwei Gao
AU  - Hao Bai
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/24
JO  - Nature Communications
DO  - 10.1038/s41467-026-78091-x
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-78091-x
AB  - Aerogels are ideal materials for thermal insulation and protection. However, ceramic and carbon aerogels are generally brittle, whereas polymer aerogels often collapse and lose insulation capability under flame exposure, compromising effective thermal management across both daily use and fire emergencies. We construct a hybrid silicone aerogel with continuous silicone matrix reinforced by a silica network, enabling low thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical resilience and a unique flame-induced nano-hollowing ceramization process. Under flame, the nano-hollowing process yields an efficient thermal barrier with an unexpected decrease in thermal conductivity, enabling a 10-mm-thin panel to maintain its back-side temperature below 120 °C for at least 25 min. In addition, the aerogel provides daytime radiative cooling of 7.7 °C under midday solar irradiation. With such multifunctionality and fabrication scalability, our silicone aerogel is desirable for many strategic areas such as energy-efficient buildings and electric vehicles, where effective thermal management and sustained flame protection are greatly demanded.
SN  - 2041-1723
ER  -