Ultralight aerogel textiles based on aramid nanofibers composites with excellent thermal insulation and electromagnetic shielding properties

Abstract

Ultralight, flexible and robust aerogel fibers based on aramid nanofiber/modified carbon nanotubes are prepared via a facile wet spinning method following with a freeze-drying technique. The aerogel textiles based on the strong aerogel fibers exhibit excellent thermal insulation properties within a wide range of temperature (−30–200 °C), which can be attributed to their ultralow density (5–12 mg/cm3) and high specific areas (123–219 m2/g). Moreover, the optimized aerogel textiles (with a thickness of 0.92 mm) show high-efficient electromagnetic shielding performance with a value exceeding 30 dB in the X-band. Overall, those aerogel textiles exhibit great potential for applications as thermal insulation and electromagnetic shielding equipment under harsh environments.