Large-scale assembly of isotropic nanofiber aerogels based on columnar-equiaxed crystal transition

Lei Li, Yiqian Zhou, Yang Gao, Xuning Feng, Fangshu Zhang, Weiwei Li (), Bin Zhu, Ze Tian, Peixun Fan, Minlin Zhong, Huichang Niu, Shanyu Zhao, Xiaoding Wei (), Jia Zhu () and Hui Wu ()
Additional contact information
Lei Li: Tsinghua University
Yiqian Zhou: Tsinghua University
Yang Gao: Peking University
Xuning Feng: Tsinghua University
Fangshu Zhang: Tsinghua University
Weiwei Li: North University of China
Bin Zhu: Nanjing University
Ze Tian: Tsinghua University
Peixun Fan: Tsinghua University
Minlin Zhong: Tsinghua University
Huichang Niu: Guangdong Huitian Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd
Shanyu Zhao: Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Empa
Xiaoding Wei: Peking University
Jia Zhu: Nanjing University
Hui Wu: Tsinghua University

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Ice-templating technology holds great potential to construct industrial porous materials from nanometers to the macroscopic scale for tailoring thermal, electronic, or acoustic transport. Herein, we describe a general ice-templating technology through freezing the material on a rotating cryogenic drum surface, crushing it, and then re-casting the nanofiber slurry. Through decoupling the ice nucleation and growth processes, we achieved the columnar-equiaxed crystal transition in the freezing procedure. The highly random stacking and integrating of equiaxed ice crystals can organize nanofibers into thousands of repeating microscale units with a tortuous channel topology. Owing to the spatially well-defined isotropic structure, the obtained Al2O3·SiO2 nanofiber aerogels exhibit ultralow thermal conductivity, superelasticity, good damage tolerance, and fatigue resistance. These features, together with their natural stability up to 1200 °C, make them highly robust for thermal insulation under extreme thermomechanical environments. Cascading thermal runaway propagation in a high-capacity lithium-ion battery module consisting of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 cathode, with ultrahigh thermal shock power of 215 kW, can be completely prevented by a thin nanofiber aerogel layer. These findings not only establish a general production route for nanomaterial assemblies that is conventionally challenging, but also demonstrate a high-energy-density battery module configuration with a high safety standard that is critical for practical applications.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41087-y

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