Smart-simulation derived elastic 3D fibrous aerogels with rigid oxide elements and all-in-one multifunctions

Lightweight aerogel with functionally-elastic three-dimensional (3D) networks holds great promise, but their function realization is seriously plagued by weak assembling of building blocks with poor mechanical-stabilities. Herein, facile crosslinking brittle oxide nanofibers into elastic 3D fibrous aerogels was demonstrated based on smart screening of components and structures from nanoscale to macroscale in finite element analysis. By employing reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets as glues and air bubbles as templates, a simple approach to scalable synthesis of fibrous aerogels was developed. Despite involving rigid oxide element, the fibrous aerogel has good elasticity (under 1000-cycled compressions, withstanding − 196 to 700 °C), ultralow density (7.02 mg·cm−3), ultra-rapid photothermal conversion and water absorption. With these merits, it can efficiently evaporate water from microplastic-polluted seawater powered by solar, enable the vapor to be naturally condensated and harvested in well-designed electricity-free system. High solar-to-vapor efficiency over 100% (1 sun) and microplastic removal efficiency (∼100%) are achieved. Superior to reported evaporators, such elastic aerogel can be reused in wearable cold-defending and pressure sensing even after solar-evaporation. This work provides a universal strategy for smart-simulation designing and simple assembling multifunctional architectures even from brittle building-blocks, opening doors to new opportunities in many advanced applications.