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<p>The development of high-efficiency thermal insulation materials is crucial for terrestrial and space applications under extreme conditions. Synthetic aerogels, featuring porosities up to 99%, can reach the values of ~10 mW m<sup>−1</sup> K<sup>−1</sup> under vacuum. However, whether natural materials can achieve this performance remains an open question. Here, we report lunar agglutinates from the Chang’E-5 mission that exhibit thermal conductivities as low as ~8 mW m<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup> K<sup>−</sup><sup>1</sup> under vacuum, surpassing most high-performance aerogel materials — at modest porosities of only 7–30%. Integrated structural characterizations and atomic-to-mesoscale simulations demonstrate that the space-weathering-forged multiscale voids and multiphase interfaces collaboratively suppress phonon transport within agglutinate particles, leading to their ultra-low thermal conductivities. These natural structures demonstrate a non-porosity-dominated thermal insulation mechanism. The findings redefine the microstructural design principles for super-insulating materials and provide a particle-scale explanation for the ultralow thermal conductivity of lunar regolith.</p>

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A space-forged super-thermal insulating material—lunar agglutinates

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年3月18日

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  • Ziwei Tian,
  • Jie Zheng,
  • Haidong Wang,
  • Guang Zhang,
  • Yanxi Chen,
  • Ronghua Pang,
  • Quan Zheng,
  • Xin Liu,
  • Songzheng Yu,
  • Guanghui Liu,
  • Yiwei Liu,
  • Jianzhong Liu,
  • Yang Li,
  • Bingyang Cao,
  • Peng Zhang,
  • Ziyuan Ouyang

摘要

The development of high-efficiency thermal insulation materials is crucial for terrestrial and space applications under extreme conditions. Synthetic aerogels, featuring porosities up to 99%, can reach the values of ~10 mW m−1 K−1 under vacuum. However, whether natural materials can achieve this performance remains an open question. Here, we report lunar agglutinates from the Chang’E-5 mission that exhibit thermal conductivities as low as ~8 mW m−1 K−1 under vacuum, surpassing most high-performance aerogel materials — at modest porosities of only 7–30%. Integrated structural characterizations and atomic-to-mesoscale simulations demonstrate that the space-weathering-forged multiscale voids and multiphase interfaces collaboratively suppress phonon transport within agglutinate particles, leading to their ultra-low thermal conductivities. These natural structures demonstrate a non-porosity-dominated thermal insulation mechanism. The findings redefine the microstructural design principles for super-insulating materials and provide a particle-scale explanation for the ultralow thermal conductivity of lunar regolith.