Temperature-Responsive Intumescent Chemistry toward Fire Resistance and Super Thermal Insulation under Extremely Harsh Conditions

Abstract

Organic aerogels with high strength are attractive for thermal insulators but are seriously hampered under fire/high-temperature harsh conditions. In this study, we report a smart temperature-responsive self-intumescent strategy for organic aerogels driven by in situ carbonization and self-foaming chemistry. The resultant smart temperature-responsive aerogel is not active at low temperatures but can intumesce rapidly to form stable porous carbon at higher temperatures (>300 °C) to achieve excellent fire resistance and high-temperature thermal insulation. Especially, the aerogel can smartly real-time expand with different contents in response to temperature/fire to form different porous carbon layers, thus resisting the attack of various heat conditions and exhibiting the best high-temperature insulating performance ever reported. The corresponding mechanism has been revealed in detail. This aerogel also exhibits the combined advantages of a high compressive modulus of 45 MPa, negligible heat and smoke release during fire, and low thermal conductivity. This novel strategy provides new insights for the development of advanced extreme-condition insulating organic insulators.