Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a new thin-film material that brings together two properties that typically don’t go hand in hand: high stiffness and strong thermal insulation. The material is both exceptionally rigid and highly resistant to heat transfer, with insulating performance beyond materials found in nature.
Through molecular engineering, the team created a layered hybrid perovskite with a thermal conductivity of approximately 0.04 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at room temperature. That makes it about five times more insulating than silicone, while being 700 to 10,000 times stiffer.
The material can also be produced at larger scales and applied as a thin-film coating, opening up possibilities for electronics and other technologies where managing heat without sacrificing structural strength plays a key role.
