Dragonflies tell scientists a way to create an airgel

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Found a cheap and effective way to create a super lightweight and durable material – airgel. Scientists have spied the idea in dragonflies, whose wings resemble the structure of an airgel. The research results were published in the journal Advanced Materials.

Aerogels are very lightweight, hard and heat resistant materials. They are obtained from various gels based on silicon dioxide, aluminum oxides, chromium and other substances. Under special conditions, water is removed from the gel and replaced with gas, resulting in a porous structure. Moreover, cavities in aerogels occupy up to 99% of the total volume. Despite such a low density (a cubic meter of such material can weigh only 1 kilogram), airgel can withstand gigantic loads. Another important property of airgel is its very low thermal conductivity, which is why it is often used as an insulating material. An international team of scientists has developed a new technology that allows you to create aerogels without high energy and financial costs.

The main task when creating an airgel is to “expel” all the water from the initial gel, replacing it with air, while the remaining substance should not stick together. Existing methods of creating aerogels involve strong heating of a substance under high pressure. Such technologies require a lot of energy and money. Because of this, a material with unique properties is not used so widely.

The authors of the new study suggested drying the gel not using pressure and high temperature, but under normal conditions using baking soda (sodium bicarbonate). Scientists have spied the idea in dragonflies, which produce sodium bicarbonate molecules to dry out their wings as they transition from larval to adulthood. The researchers used the same method and added baking soda to the gel, and then carried out a chemical reaction, during which carbon dioxide was released from the baking soda. As a result, the gas was “trapped” in the dried gel, and a strong porous structure was formed.

According to scientists, the created technology has reduced the cost of creating aerogels by 96%, making it almost free. The authors hope that with the use of their development the unique material will be widely used, for example, for creating thermal insulatio

n. Source: indicator.ru