A review of thermal hazard formation mechanisms and regulation strategies of hydrophobic silica aerogels

• Recent advances in HSA: synthesis, thermal hazards, and flame retardant strategies. • Organic groups introduced by hydrophobic modification are the origin of HSA flammability. • Current strategies to enhance thermal stability and flame retardancy are compared. • Future directions are outlined for safer thermal insulation applications of HSA. Hydrophobic silica aerogels (HSA) are a class of nanoporous materials characterized by low density, high porosity, and ultralow thermal conductivity. Owing to these outstanding properties, HSA have demonstrated great potential as high-performance thermal insulation materials in applications such as building insulation, petrochemical engineering, thermal management for…

• NN
  National Natural Science Foundation of China
• NS
  Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province