Novel nanoporous silica aerogel impregnated highly porous ceramics with low thermal conductivity and enhanced mechanical properties

Novel nanoporous silica aerogel impregnated highly porous zirconia ceramics were successfully synthesized from silica gel and camphene-based freeze-cast porous zirconia ceramics. The resultant porous ceramic–aerogel composites exhibited high compressive strength of 36.8 MPa, and ultra-low thermal conductivity ranging from 0.041 to 0.098 W m−1 K−1, as the porosity increased from 46.5% to 69.8%. The present work provides an efficient way to fabricate high-strength thermal insulation materials with ultra-low thermal conductivity.