Creation of hollow silica-fiberglass soft ceramics for thermal insulation

• Two low-cost hollow silica nanoparticle synthesis routes. Scalable, general production of soft ceramics by high-shear mechanical mixing. An effective – fiberglass crosslinked network for thermal insulation. Ultralow conductivity 0.023 W -1 m K with robust flexibility. Hollow-structured materials show promise in insulation because the shells encapsulating gaseous voids can interrupt heat transport pathways. Here, we present two routes to fabricate nanoshells, via gas-phase and liquid-phase methods. The method generates a droplet surface precipitation mechanism flame aerosol reactor. route forms removal carbon template, which is produced hydrothermal reaction glucose. Both approaches (gas- liquid-phase) provide amorphous structure, low (0.023 0.026 ), small particle size (442 383 nm), thin shell (35 36 density (0.015 0.033 g cm -3 ). We employed high shear mixing composite ceramics. resulting three-dimensional provides elasticity fire-retardancy while maintaining conductivity, dramatically outperforming an analogous material using commercial gel place nanoshells. Our findings practical synthesize silica, either be used manufacture class shell-fiber nanocomposite energy-saving applications.