Abstract
Abstract
Aerogel fibers demonstrate significant potential for applications in personal thermal management. However, radial compression induces collapse of the skeletal structure, preventing effective recovery, and significantly degrading their thermal management performance. To address these limitations, this study proposes a universal foaming followed by coaxial spinning (FCS) preparation strategy for aerogel fibers. The FCS strategy utilizes bubble templates to provide geometric constraints, and subsequently integrates chemical vapor deposition to regulate the rigidity of the skeleton. Aerogel fibers fabricated from the agarose (AG) system via this strategy achieved 100% elasticity recovery under 40% radial compression, and their irrecoverable deformation was only approximately 5% after 30 cycles. Even under extreme radial compression of 80%, the irreversible deformation was only 16%, demonstrating the excellent radial elasticity of the AG aerogel fibers. Furthermore, the introduction of a dome structure can significantly enhance the radiation cooling and insulation properties of the material. The FCS strategy was successfully extended to four natural polymer systems that can gel easily, and aerogel fibers with typical aerogel characteristics were prepared, verifying its universality. Therefore, this strategy resolves the issue of poor radial elasticity in aerogel fibers, and also provides new inspiration for the development of all-weather thermal management textiles.