By mimicking the interlocking structure of a bird's nest -- but on a much smaller scale, using nanoparticles -- Missouri S&T's Nicholas Leventis and his colleagues have come up with a way to make a certain class of aerogels less fragile. A recent edition of the journal Chemical Science reports:

Aerogels are typically made from pearl necklace-like strings of silica nanoparticles, and can be strengthened with a polymer coating, so that the strands form crosslinks wherever they meet. But inspired by the highly interlocked structures of bird nests, Leventis switched to vanadia-based structures, which form a more highly entangled worm-like nanostructure.

'Both crosslinked silica and vanadia are very strong materials. But crosslinked vanadia aerogels never fail under compression, and can absorb at least four times the kinetic energy of the silicon carbide ceramics used for armour,' said Leventis. 'Killer applications will be in areas where we can take advantage of the multifunctional character of these materials - strength in combination with acoustic and thermal insulation - such as lightweight structural materials for buildings, and the automotive and airplane industries.'

This is not the first time Leventis has gained notice for his work with nanomaterials. Last June, the chemistry professor made Nanotech Briefs' Nano 50 list of top researchers in the field. Leventis made the list for his previous work with aerogels.