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Nanocellulose Aerogels as Thermal Insulation Materials

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Nano and Biotech Based Materials for Energy Building Efficiency

Abstract

There is a high demand of energy consumption due to the increasing population, industrial expansion, and development plans. However, the increasing cost of energy and the negative impact on the environment by energy production plants have resulted in the need to find means to substantially reduce energy consumption. Buildings are one of the main factors contributing to the world energy consumption. About two-thirds of the total energy is used for the buildings. It is essential to reduce energy consumption of buildings by finding more effective thermal insulation materials. Cellulose is a green, cheap, and abundant material with low thermal conductivity. Its combination with aerogel structure forms a novel and effective heat insulation material known as cellulose aerogel. Cellulose aerogels can be fabricated from bacterial cellulose, wood/paper pulps, or cellulosic wastes. The aerogels become water-repellent after being treated with silane reagents via a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method. They show highly porous structures with good flexibility, high stability, and extremely low thermal conductivities. These characteristics make them promising for thermal insulation applications.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, 117575, Singapore

    Hai M. Duong & Son T. Nguyen

Authors
  1. Hai M. Duong
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  2. Son T. Nguyen
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Correspondence to Hai M. Duong .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Minho, Guimaraães, Portugal

    F. Pacheco Torgal

  2. Department of Engineering, University of Perugia, Perugia, Perugia, Italy

    Cinzia Buratti

  3. Department of Applied Science, Anna University, Chennai, India

    Siva Kalaiselvam

  4. Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

    Claes-Göran Granqvist

  5. Schl of Civil & Environmental Engg, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore

    Volodymyr Ivanov

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Duong, H.M., Nguyen, S.T. (2016). Nanocellulose Aerogels as Thermal Insulation Materials. In: Pacheco Torgal, F., Buratti, C., Kalaiselvam, S., Granqvist, CG., Ivanov, V. (eds) Nano and Biotech Based Materials for Energy Building Efficiency. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27505-5_15

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-27505-5_15

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-27503-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-27505-5

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