High-temperature aerogels have garnered significant attention as promising insulation materials in various industries such as aerospace, automotive manufacturing, and beyond, owing to their remarkable thermal insulation properties coupled with low density. With advancements in manufacturing techniques, the thermal resilience of aerogels has considerable improvements. Notably, polyimide-based aerogels can endure temperatures up to 1000 °C, zirconia-based aerogels up to 1300 °C, silica-based aerogels up to 1500 °C, alumina-based aerogels up to 1800 °C, and carbon-based aerogels can withstand up to 2500 °C. This paper systematically discusses recent advancements in the thermal insulation performance of these five materials. It elaborates on the temperature resistance of aerogels and elucidates their thermal insulation mechanisms. Furthermore, it examines the impact of doping elements on the thermal conductivity of aerogels and consolidates various preparation methods aimed at producing aerogels capable of withstanding temperatures. In conclusion, by employing judicious composition design strategies, it is anticipated that the maximum tolerance temperature of aerogels can surpass 2500 °C, thus opening up new avenues for their application in extreme thermal environments.

This research article presents a comprehensive first-principles study on the piezoelectric properties of Wurtzite Aluminum Nitride (AlN) films under in-plane strain conditions. By calculating the piezoelectric tensor coefficients (e33, e31, and e15), we investigate the variation patterns of these constants with respect to in-plane strain. Our results indicate significant changes in the piezoelectric constants within the range of in-plane strain considered, exhibiting a linear trend despite opposite trends for e33 compared to e31 and e15. This study highlights the extreme sensitivity of AlN films’ piezoelectric performance to in-plane strain, suggesting its potential as an effective means for tuning and optimizing the piezoelectric properties of AlN-based devices.

In this study, sepiolite clay fibers were activated through hydrochloric acid acidification at various concentrations. The effects of different acid environments on the phase structure, morphology, and physicochemical properties of the activated sepiolite fibers were studied extensively. It was found that calcite impurities can be effectively removed when the acid concentration exceeds 1 M. Furthermore, the specific surface area of K-supported sepiolite fibers increases continuously with rising acid concentration, reaching 107.9 m²/g when the hydrochloric acid concentration is 7 M. The soot temperature-programmed oxidation (TPO) results demonstrated that K-supported sepiolite fibers acidified with 3 M HCl exhibited the highest catalytic activity, with T₁₀ and T₅₀ values of 323 °C and 348 °C, respectively. The 10 wt% K-supported sepiolite paper catalyst, using 3 M HCl-activated sepiolite fibers as the matrix, exhibited the lowest T₅₀ value of 436 °C and showed excellent stability compared to all other paper catalyst samples. This study on the activation of sepiolite-based catalysts under various acidic conditions advances the development of highly active and stable mineral catalytic materials and facilitates their practical application.

A metamaterial structure using steel reinforcement and dielectric cubes was designed, which was introduced into concrete to improve the electromagnetic wave absorption performance of concrete. A near-unit absorption peak at 9.82 GHz was generated in simulation and experimental results. It is also demonstrated that this metamaterial absorbing concrete is insensitive to polarization and can operate at wide angle of incidence.

This study establishes design principles for robust sodalite-based Na _{8− x} Cs _x Al ₆ Si ₆ O ₂₄ Cl ₂ waste forms: (i) optimizing Cs loading at x = 4–5 and (ii) ensuring symmetric Cs distributions to balance thermal stability and incorporation efficiency.