Adding aerogel with low thermal conductivity to traditional mortar and concrete can effectively improve the performance of the material.
Aerogel insulation mortar is made of silicate cement as a gelling agent, with aerogel, SiO₂, and glass beads. The size of glass beads is much larger than that of aerogel particles, and can be filled into the mortar matrix. The smaller aerogel particles will further fill the gaps, so that the porosity is reduced as much as possible, and the thermal conductivity of the insulation mortar will also decrease accordingly, and the expected building insulation effect can be obtained. When the insulation mortar is applied to the surface of the building's exterior wall, the thicker the mortar, the greater the temperature difference between the inside and outside. It can be seen that aerogel insulation mortar can block heat and improve the overall insulation and energy-saving effect of the building structure. After adding aerogel to concrete, the weight and thermal conductivity of concrete are significantly reduced, but it will also damage the mechanical strength of concrete, so aerogel concrete should be avoided in load-bearing walls.


Aerogel powder can be used for interior wall coatings as a supplement to structural insulation measures. It is not only suitable for the insulation of the interior walls of buildings, but also for the insulation of exterior walls and roofs.
Inner wall insulation is an important part of building insulation engineering, but it is often easily overlooked. The internal heat diffuses through the inner wall and is transferred to the outside. The insulation of the inner wall needs to meet the most basic insulation requirements and also have fireproof functions. Pollution-free materials should be selected. The use of aerogel insulation board can improve the insulation and sound insulation effects, and can also meet the fireproof requirements of more than 400°C. Aerogel powder can be used for interior wall coatings. As a supplement to structural insulation measures, it is not only suitable for the insulation of the interior walls of buildings, but also for the insulation of exterior walls and roofs. The main materials of aerogel powder products are aerogel and nano-SiO₂. They are made through special processes with extremely small pore sizes, which can meet the requirements of thermal insulation performance and can be widely used in building insulation layers.


Aerogel materials are applied to water tanks, collectors, pipes and other parts of water heaters, and heat losses can be reduced by less than 30% compared with the past.
Aerogel materials have been used in rooftop solar collectors for a long time. They are mainly used in the insulation devices of solar water heaters, which effectively improves the efficiency of solar energy utilization, makes them more practical, and can meet people's living needs. Applying aerogel materials in water tanks, collectors, pipes and other parts of water heaters can increase the heat collection efficiency by at least 1 times compared with solar water heaters made of ordinary materials, and the heat loss can be reduced by less than 30% compared with the past.


Aerogel felt has significant hydrophobic and thermal insulation characteristics, which can improve the thermal insulation effect of pipelines and is an ideal thermal insulation material. Pipes can be wrapped with aerogel felt as the main thermal insulation layer of the thermal insulation structure, and the metal protective layer as the second thermal insulation measure can protect the aerogel thermal insulation layer. When wrapping multiple layers of aerogel felt, the staggered overlapping method can be used to enhance the thermal insulation performance. Aerogel felt has good tensile strength, flexibility and compressive resistance, and the thermal insulation layer construction is relatively simple. In addition, the hydrophobicity of aerogel felt keeps its thermal conductivity almost unchanged during use. Compared with traditional thermal insulation structures, aerogel thermal insulation structures have more energy-saving value.


The use of aerogel glass can improve the thermal insulation effect, reduce the impact of solar radiation, and meet people's use needs.
Aerogel glass usually reduces the heat transfer coefficient of glass in the form of hollow, vacuum and interlayer, and can improve the noise reduction ability. Aerogel glass has obvious energy-saving effect. In hot summer and cold winter areas, aerogel glass can weaken solar radiation in summer and reduce heat loss by about 20%. In winter, aerogel glass can block about 40% of indoor hot air, which has good energy-saving value. Although windows only account for a small part of the building envelope, energy consumption accounts for about 25% of the total energy consumption. The main reason is that the building windows do not play a role in heat preservation, and the internal heat often diffuses to the outside through the windows. In summer, sunlight directly shines into the room through the windows, causing the indoor temperature to rise. The use of aerogel glass can improve the insulation effect, reduce the impact of solar radiation, and meet people's use needs. Aerogel glass has a higher light transmittance than ordinary glass and does not have much effect on indoor lighting. At present, there are two main types of aerogel glass, one is laminated glass and the other is coated glass. Laminated glass consumes more aerogel and has a higher corresponding cost. In contrast, the price of using coated glass is much lower than that of laminated glass, and it has good thermal insulation performance, with a transmittance of up to 88%, which will not affect indoor lighting.


Aerogel thermal insulation material is a Class A non-combustible material and can be used in building fireproof structures.
Aerogel concrete composite wall is a lightweight thermal insulation wall material made of aerogel filling and modified lightweight aggregate. Aerogel expanded perlite can be prepared by filling aerogel filling in expanded perlite, and it can be used as a lightweight aggregate to form a new type of thermal insulation material. Aerogel expanded perlite has a compressive strength of 4.39MPa and a thermal conductivity of 0.062W/(m·K). The aerogel structure is mainly a porous network, and the aerogel thermal insulation composite material can be covered on the surface of the steel structure to extend the burning time without producing toxic substances. At the same time, aerogel material can hinder the spread of fire and is a Class A non-combustible material that can be used in building fireproof structures.


Aerogel has excellent performance, but the strength of pure aerogel material is low. We should further strengthen the research and development of composite aerogel materials, reasonably combine aerogel materials with other materials, effectively enhance the performance of materials, and make up for the shortcomings of aerogel materials. At the same time, we must further reduce the preparation and use costs of aerogel in order to occupy a larger share in the construction market and effectively improve the comprehensive benefits of aerogel materials.