Fire-Retardant and Thermally Insulating Phenolic-Silica Aerogels.

Energy efficient buildings require materials with a low thermal conductivity and a high fire resistance. Traditional organic insulation materials are limited by their poor fire resistance and inorganic insulation materials are either brittle or display a high thermal conductivity. Herein we report a mechanically resilient organic/inorganic composite aerogel with a thermal conductivity significantly lower than expanded polystyrene and excellent fire resistance. Co-polymerization and nanoscale phase separation of the phenol-formaldehyde-resin (PFR) and silica generate a binary network with domain sizes below 20 nm. The PFR/SiO2 aerogel can resist a high-temperature flame without disintegration and prevents the temperature on the non-exposed side from increasing above the temperature critical for the collapse of reinforced concrete structures.