Multifunctional Aerogel-Structured Metafabrics Assembled by Hierarchically Porous Microsphere/Nanofibril.

Abstract

The micro/nanoporous materials that have both hierarchical pore structures and robust mechanical properties would have broad implications for areas ranging from damping and filter separation to adsorbent materials; however, creating such micro/nanoporous materials has proven extremely challenging. Herein, the multifunctional aerogel-structured metafabrics composed of wholly porous microspheres and nanofibril scaffolds are fabricated by innovatively integrating millisecond microphase separation molding technology with multi-parameter coupling control strategy. The aerogel-like porous microspheres with abundant vortex sheets can be realized by customizing the Taylor cone ejection morphology and regulating the bidirectional mass-transfer between the external environment and solvents. The hierarchical pore structure consisting of micro/nanofibrous networks and porous aerogel microspheres is developed, which endows metafabrics with high porosity (>90%). Attributed to the flexible and stable structure of micro/nanofibrils, the resulting aerogel-structured metafabrics exhibit mechanical robustness and shape-memory property even under -196°C. Moreover, such aerogel structures endow the metafabrics with surprising potential for energy dissipation and filtration separation, particularly ultrathin noise reduction (NRC of 0.5 at 10 mm), high-efficiency air filtration (99.96% efficiency, 23.3 Pa air resistance), and high-utilisation CO₂ capture (0.68 mmol g^-1) at extremely low amine loading, obviously superior to cutting-edge materials. This work provides a new pathway for the design of multifunctional aerogel-structured metafabrics.