Low thermal conductivity lanthanum zirconate nanofibrous membranes for thermal insulation

Abstract

Lanthanum zirconate (LZO) has high-temperature advantages, including a high melting point, low thermal conductivity, and high structure stability, which has the potential to be used in high-temperature thermal insulation field. However, low mechanical properties of LZO porous ceramics have limited further applications. In this work, LZO nanofibrous membranes were prepared by electrospinning, and the preparation parameters, including PVP content, spinning voltage, feeding rate, received distance, and the heating process, were investigated to optimize the microstructure of the nanofibrous membranes. The LZO nanofibrous membranes with a grain size of 34.5 nm displayed good morphology after calcining at 1000°C. The LZO fibrous membranes had a very low thermal conductivity of 0.0716 W/m·K at room temperature, showing excellent insulating performance. This work indicates that LZO nanofibrous membranes are promising candidate materials for thermal insulation applications.