A novel strategy for the construction of silk fibroin–SiO<sub>2</sub> composite aerogel with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance

doi:10.1007/s11705-022-2222-7

Front. Chem. Sci. Eng.

2023, Vol. 17

Issue (3) : 288-297 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11705-022-2222-7

RESEARCH ARTICLE

A novel strategy for the construction of silk fibroin–SiO₂ composite aerogel with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance

Weixin Liu¹, Bo Yin^1,², Jie Zhang¹, Xingping Liu^1,², Wenxian Lian¹, Shaokun Tang¹(

)

¹. Key Laboratory for Green Chemical Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Chemical Engineering & Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China
². Xinte Energy Co., Ltd., Urumqi City 831499, China

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Abstract

The practical application of silica aerogels is an enormous challenge due to the difficulties in improving both mechanical property and thermal insulation performance. In this work, silk fibroin was used as scaffold to improve the mechanical property and thermal insulation performance of silica aerogels. The ungelled SiO₂ precursor solution was impregnated into silk fibroin to prepare silk fibroin–SiO₂ composite aerogels via sol−gel method followed by freeze-drying. By virtue of the interfacial hydrogen-bonding interactions and chemical reactions between silk fibroin and silica nanoparticles, SiO₂ was well-dispersed in the silk fibroin aerogel and composite aerogels exhibited enhanced mechanical property. By increasing the loading of silk fibroin from 15 wt % to 21 wt %, the maximum compressive stress was enhanced from 0.266 to 0.508 MPa when the strain reached 50%. The thermal insulation performance of the composite aerogels was improved compared with pure silica aerogel, as evidenced that the thermal conductivity was decreased from 0.0668 to 0.0341 W∙m^‒1∙K^‒1. Moreover, the composite aerogels exhibited better hydrophobicity and fire retardancy compared to pure silica aerogel. Our work provides a novel approach to preparing silk fibroin–SiO₂ composite aerogels with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance, which has potential application as thermal insulation material.

Keywords silica aerogel silk fibroin impregnation thermal insulation mechanical property

Corresponding Author(s): Shaokun Tang

Online First Date: 06 January 2023 Issue Date: 17 March 2023

Cite this article:

Weixin Liu,Bo Yin,Jie Zhang, et al. A novel strategy for the construction of silk fibroin–SiO₂ composite aerogel with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance[J]. Front. Chem. Sci. Eng., 2023, 17(3): 288-297.

URL:

https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/10.1007/s11705-022-2222-7
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fcse/EN/Y2023/V17/I3/288

Fig.1 Schematic of the synthesis route of SFSAs with enhanced mechanical property and thermal insulation performance.

Tab.1 Physical parameters of composite aerogels

Fig.2 Photos of aerogels (a) PSA, (b) SFSA-1, (c) SFSA-2, and (d) SFSA-3.

Fig.3 SEM images of aerogels (a) PSA, (b) SFSA-1, (c) SFSA-2, and (d) SFSA-3; EDS mapping images of SFSA-2 (e) C, (f) O, (g) N, and (h) Si.

Fig.4 (a) XRD patterns of PSA, SFA, SFSA; (b) FTIR spectra of SFA, PSA, SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3; (c) XPS full-spectra of SFA and SFSA; high-resolution XPS spectra of (d) Si2p of SFSA, (e) O1s of SFA, and (f) O1s of SFSA; (g) the interactions between SF and silica nanoparticles.

Tab.2 Pore structure properties of the samples

Fig.5 (a) Nitrogen adsorption?desorption isotherms of composite aerogels and (b) pore size distribution of samples.

Fig.6 TGA curves of PSA, SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3.

Fig.7 Water contact angles of PSA, SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3.

Fig.8 (a) Photograph of a universal testing machine for testing the mechanical property of aerogels; (b) SFSA-2; (c) the stress-strain curves of SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3 (inset: the stress-strain curve of PSA); (d) compressive modulus of SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3.

Fig.9 Thermal conductivity of PSA, SFSA-1, SFSA-2 and SFSA-3.

Fig.10 Burning behavior of SFSA-2 with time.

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