Maximizing sound absorption, thermal insulation, and mechanical strength of anisotropic pectin cryogels

Fangxin Zou, Jose Cucharero, Yujiao Dong, Pinja Kangas, Ya Zhu, Janne Kaskirinne, Girish C. Tewari, Tuomas Hänninen, Tapio Lokki, Hailong Li*, Jaana Vapaavuori

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

16 Citations (Scopus)
123 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Effective use of sound absorption materials is the main way to reduce noise pollution, which constitutes a major environmental and health problem. However, the currently used porous sound absorption materials cause not only environmental pollution but their usage is also a potential health risk. Here, we demonstrate a facile strategy to create environmental-friendly and non-toxic lightweight pectin-based cryogels with hierarchically porous anisotropic structure, which integrates small pores on the walls of lamellar pores, via freeze-casting method. The fabricated pectin cryogels have better sound absorption performance (average sound absorption coefficient up to 0.76 in 500–6000 Hz), higher compression modulus (300 to 700 times higher than commercial glass wool), and comparable thermal conductivity comparing to other reported bio-based porous materials. Moreover, the sound absorption performance could be enhanced and optimized by tuning the pore wall density of lamellar pores and the size of small pores to the level of viscous and thermal layers via increasing of freeze-casting temperature and adding NaCl in pectin solution prior to the freeze-casting process. The outstanding sound absorption is linked to the unique hierarchically porous morphology of these cryogels. This strategy paves the way for the design of bio-based porous anisotropic materials for highly efficient noise absorption.

Original languageEnglish
Article number142236
JournalChemical Engineering Journal
Volume462
Early online date13 Mar 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Apr 2023
MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

Keywords

  • Freeze-casting
  • Hierarchically porous structure
  • Pectin cryogels
  • Sound absorption
  • Thermal insulation

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