Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature

Meng Li; Gui-Wen Huang; Na Li; Yu Liu; Si-Zhe Li; Yong Huang

doi:10.1007/s10118-025-3549-6

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Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature

RESEARCH ARTICLE | Updated：2026-02-13

- Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature
- Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature
- Chinese Journal of Polymer Science 2026年44卷第3期页码：706-718
- Affiliations：
  
  a.State Key Laboratory of Cryogenic Science and Technology, Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China
  b.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
- Author bio：
  
  gwhuang@mail.ipc.ac.cn
- Funds：
  
  This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 52073294), National Key R&D Program of China (No. 2021YFB4000700), Project of Stable Support for Youth Team in Basic Research Field of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China (No. YSBR-017). The authors are highly grateful to Mr. Fan-Ming Zhao for Cryogenic Mechanical Testing.;Electronic supplementary information (ESI) is available free of charge in the online version of this article at http://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-025-3549-6.
- DOI：10.1007/s10118-025-3549-6
  中图分类号：
- 收稿：2025-11-27，
  
  录用：2025-12-25，
  
  网络首发：2026-02-06，
  
  纸质出版：2026-03-15
- Accepted：
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Li, M.; Huang, G. W.; Li, N.; Liu, Y.; Li, S. Z.; Huang, Y. Highly elastic composite aerogel based on functionalized cotton fibers for strain sensing at cryogenic temperature. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 706–718

Meng Li, Gui-Wen Huang, Na Li, et al. Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 706-718.
Li, M.; Huang, G. W.; Li, N.; Liu, Y.; Li, S. Z.; Huang, Y. Highly elastic composite aerogel based on functionalized cotton fibers for strain sensing at cryogenic temperature. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. 2026, 44, 706–718 DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3549-6.

Meng Li, Gui-Wen Huang, Na Li, et al. Highly Elastic Composite Aerogel based on Functionalized Cotton Fibers for Strain Sensing at Cryogenic Temperature[J]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 44(3): 706-718. DOI： 10.1007/s10118-025-3549-6.

摘要

Cotton fiber-based functional aerogel is prepared and shows excellent elasticity and steady resistance value evolution at cryogenic temperature (77 K)

enabling great potential for being used as strain sensor in low temperature environment.

Abstract

With the development of electronic technologies

piezoresistive sensors have attracted increasing attention. Among them

aerogels with high elasticity

as a type of three-dimensional porous material

are widely used in the field of piezoresistive sensors. Nowadays

with the extension of science and technology areas

fields involving low-temperature environments have emerged

which has led to an increasing demand for piezoresistive sensors that can serve at cryogenic temperatures. However

most studies on aerogels have only focused on their sensing performance at room temperature

and there is a lack of research on aerogel sensors that can work at low temperatures. In this work

piezoresistive sensors based on cotton fibers were proposed for applications at 77 K. As one of the most important natural polymers

cotton fibers have the ability to maintain elasticity at very low temperatures. Cotton fiber-based aerogels with high elasticity and cyclic stability were obtained by controlling the freeze-casting parameters and size distribution of cotton fibers

and they showed excellent pressure sensing properties

including a wide sensing range and remarkable long-term stability. This study bridges the gap in cryogenic sensing materials and provides insights into microstructure-property relationships

advancing applications in aerospace and cryogenic engineering.

关键词

Keywords

references

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