Novel aerogels on the way from the laboratory to the pilot scale - 6th project meeting of the EU project NanoHybrids taking stock

With their nanoporous structure, aerogels are the lightest solids in the world and are therefore suitable, for example, for the thermal insulation of buildings or pipelines. The potential of this material class is far from exhausted, however, and industrial-scale commercial production is still in its infancy.

This is where NanoHybrids started three years ago. Twelve partners from international universities, research institutions and companies led by Professor Dr.-Ing. Irina Smirnova, coordinator of the project and director of the Institute of Thermal Process Engineering at the TUHH, began in November 2015 with the development of aerogels from new starting materials, which offer a wider range of desirable properties and thus enable new fields of application. Bio-based alginate aerogels are of interest to the food industry; chitosan aerogels or cellulose aerogels use residual biomass and contribute to the circular economy. The further development of polyurethane as a starting material with innovative chemical synthesis methods also offers the potential for new fields of application.

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