A sweater made from new aerogel fiber tests warmer than one made from down

A team of chemical engineers and materials scientists at Zhejiang University in China has developed a new type of aerogel fiber that has proven to be warmer than down when woven into a sweater. In their paper published in the journal Science, the group describes the inspiration for their fibers, how they were made and how well they worked when tested in a cold environment. Zhizhi Sheng and Xuetong Zhang, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, have published a Perspective piece in the same journal issue outlining the work done by the team on this new effort.