High-Performance Nano Insulation Materials for Energy-Efficient Buildings (original) (raw)
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Utilization of Hollow Silica Nanospheres for thermal Insulation Purposes
2016
A great deal of attention has been paid to thermal insulation as it plays a significant role in improving the energy efficiency within the building and construction sector. There is an ever-increasing demand for advanced thermal insulation materials that show superior performance to that of the conventional ones. The state-ofthe-art thermal insulation materials and solutions, such as vacuum insulation panels (VIP) and silica aerogels, and the emerging ones like nano insulation materials (NIM), are under rapid development and show a promising potential. Hollow silica nanospheres (HSNS) may be a promising candidate for achieving high performance super insulation materials (SIM). This study investigates synthesis parameters and properties of HSNS with the aim of reaching low thermal conductivity by exploiting the Knudsen effect. The experiments are carried out to optimize thermal performance based on variation of structural parameters like e.g. HSNS shell thickness and inner diameter.
Nano insulation materials exploiting the Knudsen effect
IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2019
As the world’s focus is turned even stronger toward miscellaneous energy efficiency and saving aspects, the development of new high-performance thermal insulation materials for building applications will play an important role in this regard. The aim of the presented study is to develop an understanding for the governing thermal transport mechanisms and utilize the Knudsen effect in nanoporous insulation materials through theoretical concepts and experimental laboratory explorations, thus being able to synthesize nano insulation materials (NIM) with very low thermal conductivity values as a major goal. NIMs based on hollow silica nanospheres (HSNS) have been synthesized by a sacrificial template method, where the idea is that the heat transport by gas conductance and gas/solid state interactions decreases with decreasing pore diameters in the nano range as predicted by the Knudsen effect. HSNS with reduced thermal conductivity compared to their solid counterparts have been prepared ...
NANOTECHNOLOGY AND ENERGY EFFICIENCY IN BUILDINGS Nano - based Insulation Materials
2020
Building sector is responsible for high energy consumption, and its global demand is expected to grow in the next decades. Nanotechnology may play a role in conserving energy through improved building insulation. Recent advances in the development of insulating materials due to the progress in nanotechnology and material sciences have allowed the production of high-performance thermal insulators with low thermal conductivity. Nowadays, the current products range from nano-based-insulation varies among paints, coatings, thin films or rigid panels. , such as aerogel, Vacuum insulation panels (VIP). This paper investigates applications of aerogel and Vacuum insulation panels VIP as new advanced high-performance insulating materials able to provide exceptional heat flow resistance performance due to their low thermal conductivity
Utilization of size-tunable hollow silica nanospheres for building thermal insulation applications
Journal of Building Engineering
Hollow silica nanospheres (HSNS) have been the subject of intense studies as a possible building block that may successfully bring about nano insulation materials (NIM) with substantially reduced thermal conductivity. The reported thermal conductivity values of the HSNS are currently ranged between 20 and 90 mW/(mK). In this work, we have investigated the thermal properties of HSNS as a function of the corresponding structural parameters such as inner pore diameter, porosity, shell thickness, and size of the silica nanoparticles constituting the shell of HSNS. HSNS with sizes less than 100 nm was specifically synthesized in an attempt to lower the expressed thermal conductivity values to be below 20 mW/(mK), which may be used as a potential target towards superinsulation materials used in building applications. Furthermore, synthetic approaches to gain insights into the mechanism and formation of HSNS, i.e., the influence of reaction parameters on the structural characteristics of HSNS, have been thoroughly discussed in this work.
Construction and Building Materials, 2018
Hollow silica nanospheres (HSNS) show a promising potential to become good thermal insulators with low thermal conductivity values for construction purposes. The thermal conductivity of HSNSs is dependent on their structural features such as sizes (inner diameter and shell thickness) and shell structures (porous or dense), which are affected by the synthetic methods and procedures including reaction medium, polystyrene template, and silica precursor.. Formation of thermally insulating HSNS was in general favoured by alkaline reaction, whereby highly porous silica shells were formed, promoting less silica per volume of material, thus a lower solid state thermal conductivity. The Knudsen effect is in general reducing the gas thermal conductivity including the gas and pore wall interaction for materials with pore diameters in the nanometer range, which is also valid for our HSNS reported here. Further decreasing the pore sizes would invoke a higher impact from the Knudsen effect. The additional insulating effect of the inter-silica voids (median diameter D50 ≈ 15 nm) within the shell coating contributed also to the insulating properties of HSNS. The synthesis route with tetraethyl orthosilicate 2 (TEOS) was more robust and produced more porous silica shells than the one with water glass (Na2SiO3, WG), although the latter might represent a greener synthetic method.
Application of nano insulation materials in the sustainable built environment
2010
Nanotechnology is widely being used in the built environment for its advantages in many improved engineering properties of the nano materials. Nano insulating materials open up new possibilities for ecologically oriented sustainable infrastructure development. The most widely used nano material in built environment is for the purpose of insulation to improve the energy efficiency namely in the buildings and dwellings. Nanotechnology has now provided an effective and affordable means to increase energy efficiency in pre-existing buildings as well as new construction by increasing thermal resistance. The major advantage of nano insulation materials is its benefit of translucent coatings which increase the thermal envelope of a building without reducing the square footage. The intrinsic property of nano insulating material is it can be applied to windows to reduce heat transfer from solar radiation due it its thermal resistant property and the translucent property allows diffusing of day light. The nano insulating material has significant advantage in reducing the operational energy aspects of buildings due to its valuable insulating properties. This paper examines applicable nanotechnology based products that can improve the sustainable development and overall competitiveness of the building industry. The areas of applying nano insulating material in building industry will be mainly focused on the building envelope. The paper also examines the potential advantages of using nanotechnology based insulating material in reducing the life cycle energy, reduction of material usage and enhancing the useable life span. The paper also investigates the operational energy by simulation methodology and compares the reduction of operational energy consumption.
Investigating Nanomaterials Performance for Energy Efficient Building Envelope
International Design Journal, 2021
Nano-based materials for energy efficient buildings have been receiving an ever increasing attention due to their advantages regarding to energy efficiency and environmental impact. For this purpose, this paper investigated the potential of using Nano-based materials represented in aerogel as a nano-based thermal insulation material and Nanogel glazing system to improve the efficiency of the building envelope and reduce cooling energy and achieve energy conservation in buildings through a simulation process conducted on an office building in smart village as a case study. Firstly the paper investigated separately the energy performance of these nano-based building envelope materials, it is found that there is a reduction in the total building energy consumption 2.17% and 4.93% respectively. The reduction in the cooling energy consumption was 3.15% and 7.41 %. Secondly the paper investigated using a combination of the two nano-based building envelope materials which resulted in 7.42% reduction in the total building energy consumption and 10.78% reduction in the cooling energy consumption.
Nano insulating materials and energy retrofit of buildings
AIP Conference Proceedings, 2016
The article offers an analysis of the use of nanotechnological insulation materials (NIMs) for energy upgrading of buildings, illustrating the possibility of their integration into the building envelope and the benefits achievable in terms of architectural quality, comfort and energy saving, within the new framework of European legislation aimed at achieving Zero energy buildings. Particular reference is given to Fibre Reinforced Aerogel Blankets for the building envelope, especially interesting for their wide possible applications even combined with phase change materials.
International Design Journal, 2022
The construction industry consumes a lot of energy, and its demand is expected to grow in the next decades all over the world. Nanotechnology may be used to generate new advanced high performance insulating materials with reduced thermal conductivity as a replacement for existing thermal insulators. This paper intends to give a state-of-the-art review of aerogels and vacuum insulation panels in order to provide a scientific overview of the most promising nano-based thermal insulation material for building applications in order to achieve energy efficiency. Firstly, the paper is used an inductive inference approach and includes reviewing general characteristics of these two nano-based insulating materials, as well as their types, applications and qualities that affect building energy consumption. Then, the analytical approach to analyze some international examples of buildings applications to illustrate the potential energy efficiency with using nano based thermal insulators. It is found that, aerogel thermal insulation products have two to three times less thermal conductivity than typical thermal insulation materials; either for opaque insulators or the transparent-translucent one. Regarding Vacuum Insulation Panels (VIPs); it can increase building energy efficiency by 8 to 10 times with very thin layers.
M. Casini, Nano insulating materials and energy retrofit of buildings, NanoItaly 2015, Rome
The article offers an analysis of the use of nanotechnological insulation materials (NIMs) for energy upgrading of buildings, illustrating the possibility of their integration into the building envelope and the benefits achievable in terms of architectural quality, comfort and energy saving, within the new framework of European legislation aimed at achieving Zero energy buildings. Particular reference is given to Fibre Reinforced Aerogel Blankets for the building envelope, especially interesting for their wide possible applications even combined with phase change materials.