【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Equipment】Major breakthroughs from 2587 to 2025! Zhejiang University develops elastic aerogel: remains unmelting at 2000°C
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This post was last edited by “Fish Swimming in the Desert” on August 6, 2025, at 10:53. Let’s give a thumbs up and encouragement to the achievements made in China’s chemical engineering technology and equipment. Your participation in the discussion is the greatest encouragement! ********************** [Ten Years of Great Development in Chemical Engineering Equipment] This is a continuously updated compilation thread; all are welcome to join the discussion: https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-3576046-1-1.html ***************** Zhejiang University develops elastic aerogel that remains intact at 2,000°C: On July 22, a team from the Department of Polymer Science at Zhejiang University announced the development of a new type of elastic aerogel material. This material can maintain structural stability in extreme high-temperature environments of 2000°C, while also possessing excellent elastic recovery properties; this breakthrough opens up new avenues for thermal protection technologies in extreme conditions. It is understood that aerogels, as one of the lightest solid materials known, possess excellent thermal insulation properties due to their nano-porous structure; however, traditional aerogels have the drawback of being highly brittle and prone to cracking at high temperatures. The Zhejiang University team adopted a completely new method for fabricating aerogels – the graphene oxide-based two-dimensional channel-constrained foaming method. The pore structure in traditional aerogels is mostly angular, whereas the pores of aerogels obtained using this fabrication method have micrometer-scale domed surfaces. The “EnTao” aerogel created by this team is half ceramic and half graphene, representing a two-dimensional hybridization of the two at the atomic level. It is not as fragile as ordinary ceramics; instead, it is soft and elastic ； Experiments show that ethaerogel exhibits excellent mechanical elasticity over a wide temperature range. It can be compressed repeatedly at room temperature, and it also exhibits excellent properties, maintaining 99% of its elastic strain even in extreme conditions ranging from 4.2 K (-268.8°C) to 2273 K (2000°C). This material is of great significance; it holds the potential to allow probes to get closer to the Sun, and it can even be used to create thermal protection suits for missions that go deep into the Earth.
Over 90% of the pores in aerogels are at the micro- and nanoscale; they usually have a honeycomb or arch-shaped structure, while the Super Team introduced a dome-shaped structure. “The pore structure in traditional aerogels is mostly angular, whereas our pores have micrometer-scale domed surfaces. ”Pang Kai, co-first author of the paper and researcher, said that dome structures are common in biological organisms and construction projects, renowned for their excellent load-bearing capacity and mechanical stability. “The slots for storing eggs are also dome-shaped, which allows them to better absorb external impacts. ” The Gaochao team, in collaboration with Professor Liu Yilun’s team from Xi’an Jiaotong University, pointed out that the non-developable surface properties of the dome structure give rise to numerous recoverable folds, which enable the material to store more elastic strain energy. Computer simulations show that the elastic strain energy storage capacity of micro-dome structures is at least 10 times that of conventional structures, thereby endowing aerogels with elastic compressive properties. Gao Chao believes that this structure represents a completely new concept of curvature design in the field of porous materials, and it can inspire the creation of more new materials. Micro-dome bubbles are created using a completely new method, inspired by the \"elephant toothpaste\" experiment: hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) is accelerated in its decomposition to produce oxygen under the action of a catalyst; a large amount of gas mixes with a foaming agent to form foam that erupts out, resembling an elephant’s trunk emerging from a beaker. “We proposed a two-dimensional channel-constrained foaming method that allows the gas-generation foaming process to occur between the graphene oxide layers. ”Gao Chao explained that two-dimensional graphene oxide possesses a wealth of oxygen-containing functional groups, which can effectively capture metal ions and prevent them from escaping between the layers. At room temperature and pressure, upon the addition of a foaming agent, numerous spherical bubbles nucleate and form between layers of graphene oxide, leaving behind pores with a micro-dome structure. “This process is similar to making bread; the pores on the surface of the bread are the result of carbon dioxide produced by yeast respiration. ” Pang Kai said that this method of two-dimensional channel-limited foaming is simple to operate; the entire process does not require energy-intensive freeze-drying or supercritical drying techniques, nor does it depend on complex and expensive equipment. The Gaochao team has been dedicated to the research of graphene aerogel materials for a long time. In 2013, the graphene carbon aerogel developed by the team set the record for the lightest material in the world at that time ； Over the years, the Gaochao team has focused on exploring new preparation methods, believing that this is the key to moving aerogels from the laboratory to practical applications.
【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Processing Equipment】Plasma systems, as well as newly developed intelligent measuring devices that are fully domestically produced, were put into use for the first time between 2025 and 2588. https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-5698164-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum)
【Ten Years of Rapid Development in Chemical Processing Equipment】Plasma systems, as well as newly developed intelligent measuring devices that are fully domestically produced, were put into use for the first time between 2025 and 2588. https://bbs.hcbbs.com/thread-5698164-1-1.html (Source: Haichuan Chemical Industry Forum)
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