Additive\nManufacturing of Resilient SiC Nanowire Aerogels

Abstract

Resilient\nceramic aerogels are emerging as a fascinating material\nthat features light weight, low thermal conductivity, and recoverable\ncompressibility, promising widespread prospects in the fields of heat\ninsulation, catalysis, filtration, and aerospace exploration. However,\nthe construction of the resilient ceramic aerogels with rational designed\nmultiscale architectures aiming for tunable physical and mechanical\nperformances remains a major challenge. Here, 3D constructed resilient\nSiC nanowire aerogels possessing programmed geometries and engineered\nmechanical properties are created <i>via</i> additive manufacturing.\nThe Young’s modulus of the fabricated SiC nanowire aerogel\nlattices are tuned systematically from 0.012 MPa to 5.800 MPa spanning\nover 2 orders of magnitude. More importantly, the customized lightweight\nand resilient SiC nanowire aerogels show a low thermal conductivity\n(0.046 W m^–1 K^–1). The present\nwork provides another approach to the design and rapid fabrication\nof resilient ceramic aerogels toward flexible thermal management devices,\nlightweight engineered structures, and other potential applications.