Poly (vinyl alcohol) assisted regulation of aramid nanofibers aerogel structure for thermal insulation and adsorption

Abstract

In aramid nanofibers (ANFs) aerogels, poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) was used as an aid molding agent. This study demonstrated that implementing PVA could result in a tunable pore structure of ANFs aerogels and the uniform pore was designed for thermal insulation and adsorption composites. Here, the electron microscope revealed well-preserved pores in the PVA/ANF composites aerogel which achieved extremely low thermal conductivity and excellent rebound resilience of composite aerogel. The PVA1/ANF composite aerogel had ultralow density (9.98 kg/m3), low thermal conductivity (25.78 mW/m·K) and excellent mechanical properties. In addition, the elastic PVA/ANF composite aerogels are excellent adsorbers for organic pollutants and have high reusability. The hardness with softness combination results presented in this work can be used to further improve the performance of ANF aerogel and have reference significance for the design of other composite materials.