Fabrication of flexible silica aerogel composite blankets from an aqueous fumed silica-based slurry

Silica aerogels exhibit considerable potential for thermal insulation applications owing to their low thermal conductivity. However, they generally possess poor mechanical properties and need to be mechanically enhanced while maintaining their low thermal conductivity. In this study, commercial fumed silica and methyltrimethoxysilane were used as the silica sources and water and ethanol were used as solvents to form a slurry. Consequently, silica aerogel monoliths (SAMs) were prepared through ambient drying without additional surface modification or solvent replacement. The resulting SAM maintained a typical nanopore structure and exhibited low density (0.24 g cm−3), shrinkage (4