Superelastic Cobalt Silicate@Resorcinol Formaldehyde Resin Core-Shell Nanobelt Aerogel Monoliths with Outstanding Fire Retardant and Thermal Insulating Capability

The practical applications of resorcinol formaldehyde resin (RFR) aerogels are prevented by their poor mechanical properties. Herein, a facile template-directed method is reported to produce macroscopic free-standing cobalt silicate (CS)@RFR core-shell nanobelt aerogels that display superelastic behavior and outstanding thermal insulating and fire-resistant capability. The synthesis relies on the polymerization of RFR on pre-formed CS nanobelts which leads to in situ formation of hydrogel monoliths that can be transformed to corresponding aerogels by a freeze-drying method. The composite nanobelt aerogel can withstand a compressive load of more than 4000 times of its own weight and fully recover after the removal of the weight. It can also sustain 1000 compressive cycles with 6.9% plastic deformation and 91.8% of the maximum stress remaining, with a constant energy loss coefficient as low as 0.16, at the set strain of 30%. The extraordinary mechanical properties are believed to be associated with the structural flexibility of the nanobelts and the RFR-reinforced joints between the crosslinked nanobelts. These inorganic-organic composite aerogels also show good thermal insulation and excellent fire-proof capability. This work provides an effective strategy for fabricating superelastic RFR-based aerogels which show promising applications in fields such as thermal insulation, energy storage, and catalyst support.