Elastic and high fatigue resistance SiO2/aerogel composite nanofibers membrane for thermal insulation

High performance insulation ceramic materials with excellent mechanical and thermal insulation properties are urgently needed as thermal insulators in harsh environments. However, manufacturing flexible and low-thermal conductivity porous ceramic nanofiber with high thermal stability remains a major challenge. In this work, aerogel particles were used as nano pore regulator to obtain SiO 2 /aerogel composite porous nanofibers membrane with layered structure via sol-gel and electrospinning technology. The nano-porous framework of the aerogel particles and lamellar structure, contribute to reducing the thermal conductivity of the SiO 2 /aerogel composite nanofiber membrane as low as 30.81 mW/(m·K), representing a 24.6 % decrease compared to the SiO 2 nanofibers without aerogel particles. In addition, the amorphous nature of nanofiber imparts excellent mechanical properties to the composite nanofiber membrane, maintaining approximately 86 % of the original bending stress after 500 bending-recovery cycles. Furthermore, the composite nanofiber aerogel exhibits excellent flame resistance, dynamic compressive resilience under extreme temperature conditions (∼196 °C and 500 °C), exceptional high-temperature insulation, and remarkable thermal protection performance. This investigation presents a novel and effective strategy for designing lightweight, thermally resistant ceramic porous nanofibers with low thermal conductivity suitable for high-temperature environments.