Invited Speaker
Weiwei Gao
Associate Professor, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, ChinaSpeech Title: Noval Aerogel Materials
Abstract: Aerogels are a class of lightweight, porous solid materials characterized by high porosity, low thermal conductivity, and large specific surface area. They hold great potential in applications such as impact energy absorption, thermal insulation, and electromagnetic protection. However, conventional aerogel materials suffer from poor mechanical stability, limited functionality, and high cost, which severely limit their practical applications. To address these challenges, we have developed novel ordered assembly methods and established new strategies for tuning aerogel properties through microstructure control, enabling the design and fabrication of next-generation aerogels and their composites. Key research advances include: (1) Bioinspired encapsulated aerogel fibers with both excellent mechanical properties and high-efficiency thermal insulation; (2) Stable aerogel materials with high stiffness and superelasticity via topological porous hierarchical structure design; (3) Elastic aerogels with ultralow negative Poisson's ratio and low thermal conductivity achieved through multilevel oriented structure design; (4) Long-range aligned lamellar structures enabling efficient electromagnetic shielding and high thermal conductivity in aerogel-polymer composites.
Keywords: Aerogel; Polymer; Graphene; Thermal management
Biography: Dr. Weiwei Gao is an Associate Professor and Ph. D. supervisor in the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at Zhejiang University. She has been selected for the National High-Level Youth Talent Program and the Zhejiang Provincial Outstanding Youth Science Foundation. She received the First Prize of the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Award (4/5). Her research focuses on the design, synthesis and preparation of novel aerogel materials, including bioinspired thermal-insulating fibers and carbon-based aerogels, serving major national strategic demands. As a corresponding author, she has published many papers in top journals such as Science, Chemical Society Reviews, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials and so on. Her work has been highlighted multiple times by Nature, Science, and Nature Materials and so on. Her publications have been cited over 10,000 times, with an H-index of 45. She holds 2 authorized U.S. patents and more than 20 authorized Chinese patents.