Environmentally friendly, low thermal conductivity, fire retarding, mechanically robust cellulose nanofibril aerogels and their use for early fire alarm sensors in thermally insulating sustainable building applications

Abstract

As a way to reduce carbon emissions, manufacturing an environmentally friendly and biodegradable cellulose aerogel material with low thermal conductivity, excellent mechanical, and flame retarding property to replace conventional foams is of significant interest in thermally insulating building applications. Primary questions to be addressed include how to design fire retarding and mechanically robust wood derived cellulose nanofibril aerogels as alternatives of expanded polystyrene and rigid polyurethane foams; how to develop aerogel materials in industrial-level manufacturing; and whether it is possible to further develop its early fire alarm sensors with ultra-low temperature sensitive limit and long signal durability by experimental and machine learning artificial intelligence approaches for thermally insulating sustainable building applications.