Structural Engineering of Hierarchical Aerogels Hybrid Networks for Efficient Thermal Comfort Management and Versatile Protection

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 19; no. 25; pp. e2301164 - n/a
• Main Authors: Gao, Feng, Tong, Zheming, Xiao, Weiqiang, Liu, Quan, Lu, Jianguo, Hou, Yang, He, Qinggang, Gao, Xiang, Cheng, Dangguo, Zhan, Xiaoli, Ma, Yaoguang, Zhang, Qinghua
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Aerogels; Commercialization; Cooling; durability; Emittance; hierarchical structures; hybrid membranes; hydrophobic; Mechanical properties; Membranes; Nanotechnology; Structural engineering; Thermal comfort; thermal management; Vinylidene; Vinylidene fluoride; hierarchical structures; hybrid membranes; hydrophobic; thermal management; durability
• ISSN: 1613-6810; 1613-6829
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.202301164

In recent years, growing concerns regarding energy efficiency and heat mitigation, along with the critical goal of carbon neutrality, have drawn human attention to the zero‐energy‐consumption cooling technique. Passive daytime radiative cooling (PDRC) can be an invaluable tool for combating climate change by dispersing ambient heat directly into outer space instead of just transferring it across the surface. Although significant progress has been made in cooling mechanisms, materials design, and application exploration, PDRC faces challenges regarding functionality, durability, and commercialization. Herein, a silica nanofiber aerogels (SNAs) functionalized poly(vinylidene fluoride‐co‐hexafluoropropene) (P(VDF‐HFP)) membrane (SFP membrane), inspired by constructional engineering is constructed. As‐prepared membranes with flexible network structure combined hierarchical structure design and practicability principal. As the host material for thermal comfort management (TCM) and versatile protection, the SFP membrane features a large surface area, porous structure, and a robust skeleton that can render excellent mechanical properties. Importantly, the SFP membrane can keep exceptional solar reflectivity (0.95) and strong mid‐infrared emittance (0.98) drop the temperature to 12.5 °C below ambient and 96 W m−2 cooling power under typical solar intensities over 910 W m−2. This work provides a promising avenue for high performance aerogel membranes that can be created for use in a wide variety of applications. Hybrid membranes with flexible organic–inorganic network structure inspired by constructional engineering, which combines the hierarchical structure design and practicability principal for thermal comfort management (TCM) and versatile protection. The hybrid membrane combining silica nanofiber aerogels (SNAs) and flexible polymers, in which rubber‐like Si−O−Si bonding networks that act as a high temperature nanochains. Particularly, hybrid membrane exhibits high reflectivity and strong MIR emissivity.