Chinese scientists have developed a new sound-absorbing material inspired by owls, effectively reducing noise pollution.

Foreign media: Chinese scientists, inspired by the silent flight of owls, have developed a new type of bilayer aerogel material, which is expected to significantly reduce traffic and industrial noise. Excessive noise can lead to hearing loss and worsen health problems such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

The structure of owl feathers and skin can absorb high and low frequency sounds. The research team imitated this structure, using an emulsion template freeze reconstruction technique to freeze hexane into honeycomb-like pores, and then added a second layer of silicon-containing nanofibers to simulate the feather structure. Experiments showed that the material can absorb 58% of the incident sound waves, reducing car engine noise from 87.5 decibels to 78.6 decibels, outperforming traditional high-end sound-absorbing materials.

This study was published in the journal "ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces". It may be widely applied in the automotive and manufacturing industries in the future, effectively alleviating noise pollution.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/1836410451189063/

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